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HISTORICAL SKETCH 



u 




INDIANA, 



BY D D. BANTA 



"This is the place, this is the time. 
Let me review the scene, 
And summon from tlie shadowy past 
The forms that once have been." 



CHICAGO: 

or. n. BE:E]T^s & go. 

1881. 



\^S 3 2- 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, by 

D. D. BANTA, 

in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



[:ntroductoiiy. 



Every reader of this historical sketch, will, doubtless, think 
that it ought to have been better than it is. Well, I think so, 
too ; but, if any one imagines he can write a better, let hiui try 
it. Then he will begin to learn in what a chaos everything is 
that rests in memory, and how eluding important facts are. 

I might have dwelt somewhat upon the more recent times, but, 
for obvious reasons, I preferred to occupy the space allotted me 
in rescuing, as far as possible, the beginning from oblivion. In 
this, I have gone beyond the limit set by the publishers, and yet 
have omitted much that ought to be preserved. I intend in the 
future, as in the past, to keep memoranda of events appertain- 
ing to the county's early history, as well as to its later, and, if 
this sketch will serve to revive recollections and bring their sub- 
stance to my memorandum book, I will not think my work done 
in vain. 

To all the old men and women who have now and then, during 
the past few years, given me the benefit of their reminiscences, I 
make my acknowledgments, and to Judge Hardin, who has ren- 
dered such signal service, I am under peculiarly strong obli- 
gations. 

The time of the arrival of many of the pioneer settlers of the 
county, often rests in uncertainty. The dates given, if wrong, 
may be corrected at some future time, if those charged with the 
knowledge will give it. And, more serious than that, was the 
inability to learn the names of all who came in during the first 
few years. That information can be given, and it is invited. 

D. D. BANTA. 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION 3 

CHAPTER I— In the Beginning 7 

CHAPTER II— The Wilderness Invaded 9 

CHAPTER III— The new Purchase and its Grantors 16 

CHAPTER IV— The First Settlements 19 

CHAPTER V— Organization of the County 24 

CHAPTER VI— County Government Organized 29 

CHAPTER VII— Progress of Settlement 35 

CHAPTER VIII— Through Johnson County fifty-live years ago 42 

CHAPTER IX — Contending forces; Topographical and Physical Condition; 

Clearing the Land; Squirrels, Insect Life, Wild Animals, Snakes, Sickness, 49 
CHAPTER X— Life in the Woods ; Toiling ; The Chase ; Turbulence ; Re- 
ligious; Educational; Markets 60 

CHAPTER XI— Conduct of County Business 70 

CHAPTER XII— Incidents 76 

CHAPTER XIII— The Early Bar of Johnson County 82 

CHAPTER XIV — Official Register : Governors of Indiana, Lieutenant 
Governors, Secretaries, Auditors of State, Treasurers of State, Attorneys 
General, Representatives in Congress, Members of Indiana House of 
Representatives, Prosecuting Attorneys, Judges of the Circuit Court, 
Associate Judges of the Circuit Court, Probate Judges, Common Pleas 
Judges, District Attorneys, County Commissioners, Circuit Court Clerks, 
Appraisers Real Estate, County Treasurers, Sheriffs, County Auditors, 
County Assessors, Collectors of County Revenue, Recorders, County 

Surveyors 100 

CHAPTER XV— Blue liiver Township 108 

CHAPTER XVI— Nineveh Township ....113 

CHAPTER XVII— Franklin Township ; Franklin College 116 

CHAPTER XVIII— White River Township 122 

CHAPTER XIX— Pleasant Township 151 

CHAPTER XX— Hensley Township 155 

CHAPTER XXI— Union Township 159 

CHAPTER XXII— Clark Township 163 

CHAPTER XXIII— Needham Township 167 

Population of Johnson County by Townships 168 




eA^» 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



OF 



Johnson County. 



BY I>. r). BANTA., 



CHAPTER 1. 

IN THE BEGINNING. 

In all that vast region of country lying between the Ohio and 
the lakes, France, at one time, claimed a nominal ownership. 
This claim, set up in the latter half of the seventeenth century, 
was founded on the right of discovery, settlement and military 
occupation, and it was maintained until the defeat of the French 
by Gen. Wolfe, at Quebec, in 1759, In the treaty that followed, 
France forever relinquished her pretensions to this region, and it 
passed into the possession of the British crown. 

When the war for independence came on, British agents, scat- 
tered here and there in the wilderness, were active in stirring up 
the Indians to make war on the frontiers. The Kentuckians 
were among the principal suiferers, and, as a measure of protec- 
tion, it was thought to be necessary to rid the country of the 
mischievous agents. Gen. George Rogers Clarke, accordingly, 
applied to Patrick Henry, then Governor of Virginia, for author- 
ity to raise an army with which to attack the British posts in the 
West. The authority being given, Gen. Clarke repaired to the 
Falls of the Ohio in the spring of 1778, when two hundred 
frontiersmen at once rallied to his standard. Floating down the 
Ohio in rude boats to a point a short distance below the mouth 
of the Wabash, the little army disembarked, and at once set out 
for the British posts on the Illinois River. Providence favored 
the enterprise. The English were expelled from the Illinois 
country, and the oath of allegiance to Virginia was willingly taken 



8 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

by the French inhabitants. News of the event reaching the post 
at Vincennes ahead of the invaders, the French residents of that 
place rose successfully against the British garrison, and British 
rule was at an end in the West. 

The country now belonged to Virginia. Steps were taken by 
this commonwealth to organize a government suitable to the wants 
of the region, and Col. John Todd, of Kentucky, was commis- 
sioned as the Lieutenant Colonel and Commandant of the coun- 
try on the "Western side of the Ohio."- 

The dominion exercised by A^irginia was of short duration. In 
1784, this State ceded to the United States all her claim to the 
country "northwest of the Ohio," and from that time on the en- 
tire region has been under the jurisdiction of the United States. 

Various changes in the Territorial government were, from 
time to time, made, and State after State was carved out and ad- 
mitted into the Union, until the whole has long since been ab- 
sorbed. On the 19th day of April, 1816, Indiana was admitted 
as one of these States. 

During all of the time from 1769, when La Salle, a French 
explorer, with thirty companions, descended the Kankakee and 
was the first of Europeans certainly known to have set foot on the 
soil of our State, down to within a few years before the admission of 
the State into the Union, it is not surely known that any white 
man ever set foot within the borders of the territory now com- 
prised within the boundaries of Johnson County. The probabil- 
ity is, that white men were here during that time. An Indian 
trail, connecting the falls at Louisville with the Wabash villages, 
passed through this county. This Indian highway, leading to 
and from the "dark and bloody ground," was, doubtless, trav- 
eled by many a war party going to and returning from the Ken- 
tucky settlements. These returning parties not infrequently 
were accompanied by prisoners, and there is a strong probability 
that white captives have been led by dusky warriors through 
the primitive woods of this county, long before the white hunters 
were venturing beyond the northern hill ranges of the Ohio. 

And then, again, it is known that the French Jesuits and 
traders, during the century of French ascendency in the West, 
navigated all the principal streams, established trading-posts and 
missionary stations wherever Indians could be found in numbers 
to justify ; and, as the White River country was prolific of all 
kinds of game and fur-bearing animals common to its latitude, a 
reasonable hypothesis, supported by tradition, warrants the con- 
jecture that Frenchmen were, long ago, voyageurs on White 
River, and thus came within the borders of our county. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE WILDERNESS IKVADED. 

Some time during the latter part of 1817, Jacob Whetzel, then 
living in Franklin County, in this State, bought a tract of land 
in "Harrison's Purchase," near the mouth of Eel River, in 
Greene County. The usually traveled route from the White 
Water country, where Whetzel lived, to the "Purchase," was by 
the way of the Ohio and the Wabash Rivers, or from the Falls 
at Louisville, overland to that place. Jacob Whetzel was a born 
and trained woodsman. He had been hunting wild beasts and 
fighting Indians all his life. He had served as a spy and scout 
with the armies of St. Clair and Harrison, and, now that a path- 
less woods lay between him and his purchase, he determined to 
cut through rather than go around. 

The Delaware Indians were at that time in the undisturbed 
possession of the White River country, and Jacob Whetzel, early 
in the summer of 1818, applied to the Delaware Chief, Ander- 
son, at his village on White River, where Andersontown has 
since been located, and obtained his permission to cut a road 
through from near Brookville to the bluffs of White River. In 
the month of July, in company with his son Cyrus, a youth 18 
years of age, and four good, stout axmen, Thomas Howe, Thomas 
Rush, Richard Rush and Walter Banks, he set out for the near- 
est point on White River, intending to work from thence back to 
the settlements. Taking one of the men, Thomas Rush, with 
him, he went in advance, blazing the proposed road, while young 
Cyrus, with the rest of the men, followed after, carrying their 
axes and nine days' provisions. These had not entered the wil- 
derness very far, when, one evening late, they met a party of 
Indians, whose actions, notwithstanding their warm protestations 
of friendship, excited suspicion. The two parties passed each 
other, but the white men, without arms, kept a more vigilant 
guard that night than was common even in that day. The night 
set in cloudy, and rain soon began falling, but the hours passed 
quietly on, until the camp-fire burned low, when the man on 
watch discovered Indians lurking in the vicinity. Quietly 
waking his sleeping companions, they as quietly abandoned their 
camp, and, notwithstanding the darkness of the night, followed 
the track of Jacob Whetzel and his associates, by " feeling of the 
notches and blazes cut in the trees." Whatever motive led the 



10 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

red men to prowl around their camp-fire that night, nothing more 
was seen of them on that journey. 

Meeting with no other hindrances save such as were incident 
to the trackless wilderness, Cyrus Whetzel and, his comrades 
journeyed on, crossing Flat Rock about seven miles below the 
present site of Rushville ; Blue River, four miles above Shelby- 
ville, and Sugar Creek a little north of Boggstown. On reaching 
a water-course, a few miles east of White River, a nest of honey- 
bees was discovered in the hollow limb of a walnut tree, which 
yielded a large supply of honey ; but, being too bitter to be 
eaten, because made from a bitter honey-bearing bloom, it was 
reluctantly thrown away. Nevertheless, from this circumstance 
originated the name of " Honey Creek," the first creek within the 
borders of this county to receive a name at the hands of white men. 

White River was struck at a place Jacob Whetzel and his 
party called the Bluffs, and we may well imagine that the scene 
which met the gaze of these pioneers was such as they little ex- 
pected to behold. Jacob Whetzel had set out to reach, by a 
short cut, a prospective home at the mouth of the Eel ; but, 
standing on the bluff", in those July days, he looked out over a 
wide, deep and rapidly-flowing river, through whose clear depths 
the eye could penetrate to the white pebbles that lay on the bottom 
far below, whose waters swarmed with fish, and whose level bot- 
toms and rolling uplands were covered with great forests that 
grew from a soil of wonderful richness, and there, on the banks of 
the Waw-pe-kom-i-ka of the Miami red men, he resolved should 
be his future home. 

Jacob Whetzel went on down the river alone, while young Cyrus 
and the axmen turned back and began the work of cutting out what 
was long known as " Whetzel's Trace." Their progress was 
slow. A path had to be cut of a width sufficient to admit 
the passage of a team. After passing the rolling land extending 
a few miles back from the river, the country through which they 
went was level, and, at that season of the year, was almost an 
endless swamp. Their first day's work took them to an old bea- 
ver dam near the present east boundary line of Pleasant Town- 
ship. It was built across the outlet of a swamp, and made a 
pond of water a half-mile long and several yards in width at the 
narrowest places ; but at that time it had apparently been long 
deserted. Presently they reached the Hurricane, and there they 
established their camp, and, as this stream afforded the only run- 
ning water between Sugar Creek and Honey Creek, it was sur- 
mised that here would be a noted camping-ground in the future, 
and the stream they named Camp Creek ; and subsequent events 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 11 

proved the surmise to have been well founded. Slowly hewing 
their way through the woods, the axmen came at length to a 
deep swamp, some two miles west of the present east boundary line of 
the county, which was known in the early day as the Great Gulf. 
This was a mile in width and two miles in length. Two streams, 
Flat Creek and the Leatherwood, entered the gulf at its northern 
end, and their combined waters made Little Sugar Creek. Sugar 
Creek was already named when the Whetzels came. It was 
noted for the large forests of sugar-trees that grew at intervals on 
its banks, and to this circumstance, is it supposed, that its name 
is due. The entire distance to Sugar Creek, after passing the 
skirt of rolling lands lying back from the river, is said to have 
been at the time a continuous swamp. The axmen were often 
" mid-sides in water " while cutting their way, and at night they 
cut brush and made heaps on which to sleep. 

Arriving at the Brandywine late one evening, the party en- 
camped, when Jacob Whetzel rejoined them. After their scanty- 
meal had been eaten, Jacob produced a bottle of peach brandy 
which he had obtained in Owen County, and over this the party 
pledged the memory of the wives and sweethearts at home. To 
the inspiration due to that bottle are the people of Shelby County 
indebted for the name of one of their prettiest streams — Brandy- 
wine. The name was given on that night. 

The provisions giving out, the party was soon after compelled 
to push on to the settlement, and leave the work unfinished ; but 
in a short time Whetzel returned and completed it. 

This work proved to be of great importance in the settlement 
of Marion, Johnson, Morgan and Shelby Counties. It was 
known as Whetzel' s trace, and hundreds of the early settlers of 
Central Indiana traveled along it in search of their wilderness 
homes. 

The following March (1819), Jacob Whetzel, with his son 
Cyrus, returned to the Bluffs. Selecting a camping-ground about 
five hundred yards below the place where the AVaverly Mills were 
afterward built, he prepared to build a shelter ; but, ere this could 
be done, a violent snow-storm came on and lasted until the snow 
was fifteen inches in depth. A small clearing was, nevertheless, 
made that spring, a peach orchard and some corn planted, and, 
in the following fall, the family moved in and took up their per- 
manent residence. 

About the time Whetzel's trace was being cut, pioneers had 
struck the White River toward its mouth, and settlements were 
gradually working up stream. Late in 1818, Ephraim Goss 
built a cabin where Gosport now is, and, during the following 



12 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

year, Robert Stotts settled at the mouth of a fine mill stream, 
since known as Stotts' Creek. The same year, the Awfields, 
Doneghys, Laughlins, Dewas, Enslys, Agens and Stipps settled 
below Whetzel's, and Christopher Ladd, a North Carolinian, came 
by the way of the "trace," with his family and goods mounted 
upon a sled, and settled on the Bluffs, about one hundred yards 
west of where the county line has since been run. The Indians 
had at that time ceded their possessions, and there was some 
travel by " land-lookers " and others over the " trace." Christo- 
pher Ladd invited the patronage of the travelers, and kept whisky 
for sale to them and to the Indians. 

During the summer of the same year Ladd came, a murder was 
committed in his neighborhood, which created a profound excite- 
ment among the few settlers on the river below. It seems that 
one William Agen and Ladd were out hunting in the bottom above 
the Bluffs, when they discovered in the distance a large number of 
buzzards hovering near the earth — a certain sign of the presence 
of carrion. Agen at once insisted on searching for the cause, 
but Ladd said that he had wounded a deer in that vicin- 
ity a few days before, and that he had no doubt it had since 
died, and was now being devoured by these birds. This explana- 
tion was, at the moment, satisfactory to Agen, but, as they ad- 
vanced, and the birds appeared more numerous, he again insisted 
on making an effort to find the cause. Ladd was still reluctant, 
when his companion started in the right direction, while Ladd 
followed behind- The cause was soon found in the body of a 
dead man who had evidently been murdered, for his skull had 
been cloven with two blows of a sharp instrument, apparently a 
"pipe-tomahawk," and the front of his vest, with its buttons, had 
been cut out and carried away. Ladd expressed the utmost sur- 
prise, but counseled silence, on the ground, that, while no good could 
possibly result from the fact being known, because of the nearness 
of the body to his cabin, he might be suspected and suffer harm 
in consequence. Moreover, he thought that the Indians could 
explain the mystery, and, if nothing was said about it, he felt 
sure, that, when they came to his cabin to buy whisky, he could 
so manage the matter as to get a full explanation. 

Ladd's request seemed not unreasonable, and Agen determined 
to keep the matter a secret. Perhaps he never once suspected 
that Ladd had anything to do with the man's death, and may 
have entered heartily into his plans, with a view to ferreting out 
the guilty party. Be this as it may, the " dead secret " became 
a living fire in his breast, and tortured him beyond endurance. 
To know that a man was lying dead in the woods near by, and 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 13 

yet lock the knowledge within his own bosom, was more than he 

could do. 

" This killed his pleasure all the day, 

This thought destroyed his nightly rest; 
Go where he would, 'twas in his way. 
To him a loathsome, hated pest." 

Tossing wakefully upon his bed one night, he thought to ease 
his mind by whispering the awful secret into the ear of his wife. 
He did so ; but a traveler who slept in the same cabin that night, 
happening to be awake, heard enough of the story to warrant 
him, the next morning, in admonishing Agen to make a clean 
breast of the whole matter. Agen did so The river settlement 
was in commotion. Men, women and children came to see the 
remains of the dead. A deep grave was dug, and his bones were 
laid away. Then Ladd was accused of the murder, and, not- 
withstanding his emphatic denial, his gun was taken from him, 
and he was a prisoner in the hands of a self-constituted commit- 
tee. For some reason, his captors went with him to the cabin ot 
Jacob Whetzel. Some were for hanging him on the spot; others 
"for tying him up and lynching him ;" but Jacob Whetzel coun- 
seled moderation. He argued the improbability of Ladd's guilt. 
Were he the murderer, he would have either buried the body or 
thrown it into the river. The argument prevailed. A vote was 
taken, and Ladd was set at liberty. But his wrath was up. He 
went at once to Brookville and employed lawyers to commence 
an action for false imprisonment. The action was brought, and^ 
when the case came on for trial, it created quite a stir. Gen. 
James Noble and William W. Wick appeared for the defendants. 
Ladd recovered $94 damages, but was " ruined in paying his law- 
yers' fees." The costs amounted to $1,500, and the defendants 
were " all broken up on execution." 

From the day when the murder was made public, Ladd was 
generally believed to be guilty of the deed. He was talked 
about, his cabin was made odious, and travelers were glad to shun 
it. He remained in the country for several years, however, and 
did what he could to remove the public distrust. To this end he 
resorted to various expedients, one of which was to feign pecuni- 
ary embarrassment, and then borrow money ; for, notwithstand- 
ing the distrust, he seems to have kept his credit good. But in 
more than one instance, it has been claimed, the identical money 
borrowed was known to have been returned. Eventually, he 
moved further West, and was then lost sight of. 

The Whetzels, father and son, believed in his innocence, and, 
from all the facts now known, it would seem not without good 



14 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

grounds for their belief. The spring after the murder, Hiram 
Lewis, a worthless vagabond Indian, who had been absent from 
about the time when the murder was committed, returned to the 
neighborhood riding a valuable and well-caparisoned horse, wear- 
ing a good overcoat and carrying a red morocco pocket-book, con- 
taining some bills issued by the Vincennes Steam Mill Company. 
When asked how he came by all these, be explained that he had 
traded his blanket for them ! Shortly after the murder, a pa- 
poose in its mother's arms was observed with a string of bullet 
buttons, such as might have been on that part of the murdered 
man's vest which had been cut away. The Whetzels believed 
that the worthless Indian was the murderer. 




HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 15 

CHAPTER III. 

THE NEW PUECHASE AND ITS GRANTORS. 

Early in 1814, a large stream of emigration began flowing into 
the Indiana Territory. This had not entirely subsided during 
the war, but, after the Indian confederacy had been broken by the 
defeat and death of Tecumseh, and peace had been made, the 
eastern and southern people came rapidly in, filling up the old 
settlements and making new. The Whitewater and the lower of 
the White River valleys, and, in fact, all the tributaries of the 
Ohio within the bounds of the territory, were fast affording sites 
for the log cabins and clearings of the pioneers. 

In 1816, Indiana was admitted as a State of the Union. At 
that time the population was 63,897, and, during the next few 
years, the increase was unprecedented for a new territory of that 
day. In 1820, the census gave a population of 147,178, an 
increase of more than 100 per cent in four years. At the time of 
the organization of the State, the northern Indian boundary line 
extended as far south as the northern boundary of Jackson 
County. A line drawn from that point so as to intersect the east 
boundary line near the corners of Randolph and Jay Counties, 
and thence west to the Wabash, a short distance above Terre 
Haute, and thence southeast to the place of beginning, inclosed 
the lands owned and occupied by the Delaware Indians. This 
country was watered by the White River and its numerous tribu- 
taries, and, as settlements were established in the counties border- 
ing the Delaware Territory on the south, men "eagerly desired" 
that the Delaware title be purchased and their rich lands thrown 
open to emigration. Two attempts had been made on the part of 
the Federal Government to purchase their lands, but, owing to the 
blunders of the Commissioners appointed for the purpose, both 
had failed. In 1818, President Monroe appointed Jonathan Jen- 
nings, then Governor of the State, Gen. Cass and Mr. Benjamin 
Parke as Commissioners. Repairing to the St. Mary's in Ohio, 
the Delaware chiefs were met in council, and, on the 3d of Octo- 
ber, a treaty was concluded, and the Delaware lands ceded to the 
United States, and for many years thereafter these lands were 
known as the "New Purchase." By the terms of the treaty the 
United States were obligated to pay the vendors a perpetual 
annuity of $4,000, provide them a suitable residence west of the 
Mississippi, and forever protect them in the enjoyment of the 



16 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

name. The right of possession was, however, reserved by the 
Indians for a few years after the treaty. 

A melancholy interest attaches to the fate of a once powerful, 
though now nearly extinct, people. If a hero, overpowered and 
falling before a superior force, claims our sympathy, surely we 
may '* drop a tear at the fate of nations, whose defeat followed 
the exile, if it did not indeed shadow forth the decline and ulti- 
mate extinction, of a race." While we contemplate with feelings 
of honest pride our well-improved and expanding farms, our 
fruitful orchards, our growing towns, alive with the din of busi- 
ness, and our comfortable country habitations, let us not forget 
the brave people who once had an undoubted right to our soil, 
who once took fish from our streams, game from our woods and 
pitched their bark tents on our hilly slopes, but who fled at the 
approach of the white man and sought for repose far beyond the 
confines of civilization. 

At the time of the discovery and exploration of the West, the 
Miami tribe of Indians occupied the whole of Indiana, the west- 
ern part of Ohio, the southern of Michigan, and the eastern of 
Illinois. Unlike most other tribes, the Miamis had no traditions 
of former migrations, and are presumed therefore to have occupied 
this land for a time " whence the memory of man runneth 
not to the contrary." Little Turtle, a celebrated chief of the 
Miamis, confirms this in a speech made to Gen. Wayne at the 
treaty of Greenville, in 1795. " You have pointed out to us," 
said the unlettered orator, " the boundary line between the Indians 
and the United States ; but I now take the liberty to inform you 
that the line cuts off from the Indians a large portion of country 
which has been enjoyed by my forefathers from time immemorial, 
without molestation or dispute. The prints of my ancestors' 
houses are everywhere to be seen in this portion. * * * j^ 
is well known by all my brothers present, that my forefathers 
kindled the first fire at Detroit ; from there he extended his lines to 
the headquarters of the Scioto ; thence to its mouth ; thence down 
the Ohio to the Wabash, and thence to Chicago, on Lake Michigan." 

Events had transpired many years before the delivery of this 
speech, which more directly concerned the immediate ownership 
of the land of which I write. While the Cavaliers were building 
Jamestown and digging for " fool's-gold " on Virginia ground, and 
the Puritans were exploring the headlands of the Massachusetts 
Bay and burning witches at Salem, the Leni Lenape, or Original 
People, were occupying " New Jersey, the Valley of the Dela- 
ware, far up toward the sources of that river, and the entire basin 
of the Schuylkill." This nation was made up of two tribes or 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 17 

families, the Minsi and the Delawares. About the middle of the 
eighteenth century, their country was overrun by an irruption of 
the Five Nations, and themselves defeated, whereupon the Dela- 
wares set their faces to the setting sun, crossed the mountains and 
settled upon the banks of the Muskingum. Here, however, they 
did not long remain, but, on invitation of the Miami people, 
they left shortly before the beginning of the Revolutionary war, 
and settled in the White River country. With them came 
a few families of the Mohican and Minsi tribes. A grant was 
made them by the Miamis of all the lands watered by the White 
River, and confirmed by the delivery of a belt of wampum, accord- 
ing to the unwritten law of the red man. In 1808, this grant 
was formally recognized by the United States, and was reduced 
to writing at the city of Washington by President Jefferson, which 
wanting was preserved by the chiefs of the tribe with great care, 
until they sold their lands to the Government in 1818. 

At the expiration of the time for which the Delawares had 
reserved possession, they were removed by the Government west 
of the Mississippi and located within the present boundaries of 
the State of Kansas. But even there they were not permitted 
long to remain. A remnant of the tribe — a mere fragment in 
comparison to what they were even when they left their hunting- 
grounds in Indiana, have again set their faces to the setting sun, 
and doubtless ere this, have lost their identity in the more nu- 
merous savage bands about them. 

The moral condition of the Delaware Indians at the time of the 
cession must have been deplorable. Isaac McCoy, a missionary 
to the Weas, on the Wabash, traveled through the Delaware 
towns in 1819, and made a note of his observations among them. 
He found them spiritless and thriftless, given to drunkenness and 
debauchery. The rights of property were but little respected, and 
murder was not uncommon. In 1819, a party of Indians visited 
Whetzel's, and one of them, by the name of Nosey, shot at a mark 
with young Cyrus. The white man making the better shot, 
Nosey became indignant and quarrelsome, whereupon Cyrus pro- 
posed a second contest, and this time the Indian came out the 
victor. The party then left, but had not got far beyond the Bluffs, 
when Nosey, who was still in a bad humor, killed one of his com- 
rades. According to the Indian code of laws, he was given 
"twelve moons" in which to make reparation to the friends of 
the dead by paying them $100 in money, or that sum in deer-skins. 
The twelve moons came and went, but the price of life was not 
forthcoming. Then Nosey " gave himself up." " He was taken to 
a tree, his arms drawn up to a limb, his legs parted, his ankles 



18 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

fastened to stakes driven in the ground, and then he was stabbed 
under the arms and in the groin with a butcher knife, and tor- 
tured in other ways until life was extinct." 

Owing to the great abundance of game throughout Central In- 
diana, the place was a favorite resort for the Indians. When 
Johnson County was first settled, their deserted camps were 
found on the most eligible sites along all the water-courses, and 
their graves are yet disturbed in the opening of nearly every 
gravelly knoll. Tradition and certain facts of historical moment, 
elsewhere discussed, point to the fact that a thriving Indian 
town was at one time located on the right bank of White River, 
within the present borders of Johnson County, and that a battle 
was fought between the white and red men there, and the town 
destroyed. For many years after the country was settled, the 
Indians returned at certain seasons to hunt in the Johnson County 
woods ; and, when the Delawares had gone, hunting parties came 
in from other tribes. The Miamis were encamped on Indian 
Creek after Richardson Hensly had settled there. The Wyan- 
dots hunted on the Hurricane in 1825. About the same time, 
a band of Indian hunters with their families made a camp where 
Indian Creek, of Franklin Township, empties into Young's 
Creek, and from this circumstance, Levi Moore gave it the name 
of Indian Creek. In 1825, the Indians, in large numbers, were 
on Sugar Creek, and it was shortly before this that a young 
chief, while out fire-hunting one night, was accidentally shot and 
killed, and his remains buried on the high bank not far from 
Needham's Spring. And, when James Kinnick moved in 1832 
to the land afterward entered by him in Clark Township, and on 
which his son William now lives, the remains of an Indian village 
were found with one of the wigwams in a good state of preserva- 
tion. Kinnick learned that the Indians had deserted the place 
only a few years before, and that it had been occupied by a band 
of the Pottawatomies. On Burkhart's Creek, at Simon Covert's 
cabin, Henry Byers', Thomas Roberts', Needham's, Adams', on 
Blue River, White River, Sugar Creek, Young's Creek, Nineveh, 
Stotts Creek, Indian Creek — everywhere — we hear of Indians 
being encamped at intervals for several years after the first settle- 
ments were made. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 19 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 

The Delawares stipulated for possession of their country for a 
term of two years, but it seems to have been the understanding 
of both parties that white men could occupy the country jointly 
with the red. Whetzel, it is true, made application to the Dela- 
ware chief for the privilege of cutting a trace through his re- 
serve, but we fail to find that any one else took the like precaution. 
James Wilson located on Whetzel's trace in 1818, at its crossing 
with Blue River, and was the first settler in Shelby County. 
The next year, several families followed Wilson, but none came 
west of the present site of Shelbyville, who settled in that county 
until about 1822. 

In 1819, three settlements were planted in Bartholomew 
County, one of which was by Joshua McQueen, Tunis Quick, 
John Connor and Allen Wilson, on Flat Rock Creek, four miles 
east of the present site of Taylorsville. The same year, Richard 
Berry built a cabin in the edge of Bartholomew, at the place 
where the Indian trail crossed Blue River, a mile below the town 
of Edinburg. This trail led from the falls at Louisville, not far 
from the present line of the Jefferson ville Railroad, passing in 
the vicinity of the village of Waynesville, in Bartholomew 
County, and crossing the In-quah-sah-quah of the Indian tongue 
(translated into Driftwood by the white men), thence to Blue River 
at Berry's, and thence into Johnson County. A branch trail led 
up Sugar Creek, and, at the mouth of Young's Creek, another 
branch took up that stream, crossing Young's Creek just below 
the mouth of the Hurricane, and thence on the east side of that 
stream ; but all these branching paths led to the Delaware towns, 
while the main one went by the way of the Big Spring at Hope- 
well, and so on north, crossing White River at the mouth of 
Fall Creek, and thence leading to the towns on the Wabash. 
This trail leading to the Wabash towns came to be known after 
a time as " Berry's trace," from the fact that Richard Berry 
blazed the path for the convenience of travelers. 

In 1820, the tide of emigration to the New Purchase set in 
strong from the South and from the East. The United States 
surveyors were at work, and it was known that by fall the lands 
surveyed would be subject to purchase. Indeed, all of Nineveh 
Township had been surveyed by Abraham Lee in the month of 



20 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

September, 1819. In June, 1820, John Hendricks surveyed so 
much of Franklin Township as lies in Congressional Township 12, 
Range 5, and, in August of that year, Thomas Hendricks sur- 
veyed Congressional Township 12, Range 4, being in the west 
part of Franklin Township. In the same month of August, 
John Hendricks surveyed all the lands comprised within the pres- 
ent boundaries of Blue River Township, and, as soon as he had 
completed this, he went over and surveyed the Congressional 
township better known as Union, and, while he was at that, B. 
Bently was surveying Hensly. W. B, McLaughlin surveyed 
all of White River, in Congressional Township 14, and Bently 
all that is in Township 13 ; and, later in the season, all the terri- 
tory now contained within Pleasant Township was surveyed by 
Thomas Hendricks, while John Hendricks surveyed all contained 
within Clark Township. 

In the month of May, 1820, the Commissioners appointed by 
the Legislature to select a site for the new capital of the State, 
were to meet at the house of William Connor, on White River. 
On the 17th of the month, John Tipton and Gov. Jennings set 
out on horseback for the rendezvous. Accompanying them was 
"Bill," a black boy. On the way. Gen. Joseph Bartholomew, 
Col. Jesse Dunham, also Commissioners, and Gen. J. Carr and 
Capt. Dueson, fell in with them. Passing beyond the confines of 
civilization, the little party struck the Indian trail, and, as John 
Tipton kept a journal of every day's journey, we are not left in 
the dark as to their movements. At a quarter past 3 o'clock on 
Saturday, the 20th day of the month, the cavalcade reached 
Berry's. It had taken them two hours and a quarter to ride from the 
upper rapids of the In-quah-sah-quah (where Columbus stands) 
to that place. There they stopped for the night. " Good land, 
good water and timber," exclaims honest John Tipton. The 
next morning, at half after 4 o'clock, they set out again ; but now 
that these Commissioners, accompanied by the Governor of the 
State, are traveling through Johnson County, over an Indian path, 
and their movements become more interesting to the thread of this 
history, the journal becomes provokingly obscure. It says : 

" Sunday, 21. — Set out at half-past 4. At 5, passed a corner 
of Section 36, Township 11 north, of Range 4 east ; passed a 
place where Bartholomew and myself had encamped in June, 
1813. Missed our way. Traveled east then. 

" At 8 o'clock, stopped on a muddy branch ; boiled our coffee. 
At 9:30, turned back. I killed a deer, the first one I have killed 
since 1814. Came on the trail at 10 ; found tree where I had 
written my name on the 19th June, 1813. We traveled fast. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON (^OUNTY. 21 

and at 7 encamped on a small creek, having traveled about forty- 
five miles." 

It was the northeast corner of the southeast section in Nineveh 
Township that was passed at 5 o'clock. But where was it that 
Gen. Bartholomew and himself had encamped in June, 1813 ? 
It was after passing that place they missed their way and trav- 
eled east. 

If we knew the time that elapsed after crossing the section 
corner before they missed their way, we might, with some 
degree of certainty, locate the "muddy branch," and perhaps 
identify the section on which the future United States Senator 
killed a deer on that Sunday morning, over sixty years ago, 
and, may be, find the farm on which grew the tree on which he 
wrote his name on the 19th of June, 1813. The most we can 
say is, that the encampment must have been in Nineveh Town- 
ship. The boiling of the coffee and the shooting of the deer 
most likely took place in Blue River, and the tree on which the 
name was written may have been in Nineveh, but was probably 
in Franklin Township. 

But let us go back a little. Early in 1820 — as early as Feb- 
ruary — Edward Adams, Charles Northup, and possibly some 
others, came to the country and began a clearing a short dis- 
tance east of the present site of Edinburg, but within the present 
boundary of Shelby County. These men came without their fam- 
ilies, however, and did not then become permanent citizens. In 
the month of March of this year, John Campbell, a Tennesseean, 
came by the way of the White Water country, and settled a short 
distance south of the present site of Edinburg. Campbell came 
with his family, consisting of his wife Ruth, and eight children, 
and he came to stay, and he was the first white man to build a 
cabin and make a settlement in the county of Johnson. On the 
way out, Benjamin Crews fell in with him, and together they cut 
out a road to let the teams through. Crews eventually stopped 
across the Bartholomew County line. Campbell was not left alone 
in the solitude of the Avilderness very long, for quite a number, 
whose names, as far as now known, appear in the chapter on 
"Blue River Township," came out the same season, so that, by 
the close of the year, it is estimated that not less than eighteen 
families had moved in. 

The following fall, the Johnson County lands were thrown into 
the market, and the purchases made were unparalleled in the his- 
tory of any other township in the county, there being thirty-nine 
in all, and the acreage purchased, according to the survev, being 
4,400. 



22 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

On the 31st day of August, 1821, John S. Miller, a North 
Carolinian born, but hailing from Jennings County, Ind., entered 
the west half of the northeast quarter of Section 34, Town- 
ship 11, Range 4 east, the first tract taken up within the 
precincts of Nineveh Township. But he was not the first to 
become a resident there. Amos Durlin moved into the east 
side in the spring of that year, and Robert Worl, in the fall, 
located on the margin of a stream translated from the Indian 
tongue into Leatherwood, one mile east of the present site of 
Williamsburg. It must have been about this time that the cir- 
cumstance occurred which occasioned the change from Leather- 
wood to Nineveh. Richard Berry, living at the mouth of Sugar 
Creek, with his son Nineveh, a lad in his teens, wandered up the 
Leatherwood on a hunting excursion. Espying a deer on the op- 
posite bank of the stream, young Nineveh shot and killed it. 
Crossing over for his game, the youth shouldered it and under- 
took to recross on a log, but a misstep sent both boy and game 
into the stream, which was covered by a thin coating of ice, and 
he was well nigh drowned before rescued. Then the stream 
came to be known as "Nineveh's Defeat," and, in process of 
time, the surplus word was dropped, and " Nineveh " left to per- 
petuate the memory of the lad's misadventure. 

It was in the fall of 1821, Worl came, but no one moved into 
his immediate neighborhood until the next year, when there was 
quite an accession to his neighborhood. 

In that year 1822, the Burkhart brothers — David, Lewis, 
Henry, George and William — came from Kentucky, and, following 
the Indian trail beyond Worl's, David Burkhart built his cabin 
on the high bank of a little stream, on the farm on which Michael 
Canary afterward lived and died, while Henry stopped farther 
south, and located on the north side of Nineveh Township. Fol- 
lowing close after the Burkharts came Levi Moore, who pursued 
the trail as far out as the Big Spring (now Hopewell), and there 
he turned to the east and built a cabin a few hundred yards 
west of the present crossing of the bluff road over Young's Creek 
on the hill now occupied by the residence of John McCaslin. In 
Moore's Creek, which empties into Young's, near Hopewell, we 
have perpetuated the memory of this genuine backwoodsman. 

In February, 1821, Elisha Adams, a Pennsylvanian by birth, 
but moving from Kentucky, and Joseph Young, a North Caroli- 
nian, and Robert Gilcress, from Washington County, Ind., came 
to this county. Young settled in the forks of Sugar and Lick 
Creeks, while Adams moved farther out and built a cabin near 
the present site of Amity. Lick Creek was so named by the 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 23 

United States surveyors because of the numerous and excellent 
deer licks that were here and there along its course. A noted one 
was found a few miles north of the Big Spring, while another and 
equally noted was at the mouth of the Hurricane. But Young's 
cabin soon came to be known better than the licks, and the first 
settlers, caring little for the work of the surveyors in naming the 
streams, by common consent changed Lick Creek into Young's 
Creek, and time has sanctioned their act. 

The following fall Adams" horses strayed off, and, following 
them into Bartholomew County, he there met John Smiley, who 
inquired of him for a mill seat. Being encouraged to come and 
see for himself, in 1822 he came and found a site, and at once 
went to work and built on Sugar Creek the first mill in the 
county. Others followed, and by the close of the year a substan- 
tial settlement was founded on Sugar Creek. 

In October, 1820, Daniel Loper built a cabin at the crossing of 
Whetzel's trace and the Indian trail, now within Pleasant Town- 
ship. Loper was a genuine son of the backwoods, whose place of 
nativity is unknown, and, although he was the first settler in both 
Pleasant and Clark Townships, as will further appear, it is not 
known when he left the county, nor to what place he went. 

A year after John Campbell had planted a settlement in the 
southern part of the county, Abraham Sells, a Virginian, did the 
like work for the northwestern corner. He, in company with his 
brother John and certain members of their families, reached 
White River Township, near the mouth of Pleasant Run, on the 
6th of March, 1821. The same spring the Lowe family, from 
North Carolina, and John Doty, from Ohio, came in, and a settle- 
ment was begun in White River Township. 




24 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

CHAPTER V. 

ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY. 

In the fall of 1822, George King, Garrett C. Bergen and Simon 
Covert, came from Kentucky to look at the lands in this part of 
the New Purchase. The capital of the State had been laid out 
that summer, and thin streams of immigration were pouring into 
the New Purchase from the east and the south. Not all of the 
counties of Central Indiana were then organized, as at present, 
but such unorganized territory, including that of Johnson, was 
attached to Delaware County. These land hunters had an eye to 
the partition of the New Purchase into counties in the near future, 
and, when they reached the Blue River settlement. King inquired 
of Heriott for an eligible site for the location of a town, and was 
cited to the tract lying between Young's Creek and Camp Creek. 
The place was visited, and it was found to be covered by a fine 
growth of beech, sugar tree, ash, walnut and poplar timber, while 
a tangled thicket of enormous spice brush grew up beneath. 
Along Young's Creek a great hurricane had passed some years 
before, as was plainly to be seen from the great swaths of timber 
cast along its bottoms. The storm had evidently come from the 
west, and at the mouth of Camp Creek it had changed its course, 
and, following the course of this stream, had plowed a great, wide 
furrow, extending for miles in the dense groves of timber which 
grew along its bottoms. Just above the mouth of Camp Creek, 
on the north side of Young's Creek, was a tract of boggy ground, 
and at the upper margin a sulphur spring burst forth. Here was 
a deer lick, and the numerous paths worn through the dense 
brush converging from every quarter of the compass, not only 
testified to the place being a favorite resort of the deer, but to 
their great abundance. The men were pleased with the prospect, 
and. King selecting the eighty-acre tract on which the town of 
Franklin was afterward located. Covert took the eighty lying to 
the east, and Bergen that on the north. But, when they reached 
the land office, it was ascertained that Daniel Pritchard, on the 
25th of September before, had entered King's tract ; thereupon 
King entered the tract lying to the west of it, while the others 
purchased as they had originally intended. King sought out 
Pritchard at once, and bought his eighty acres by paying him 
$200 as an advance of the original cost. The Legislature was 
expected to meet soon, and, for some reason not well understood 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 25 

now, quite a stir was among the people in some localities as to the 
probable action to be taken with reference to new counties. Those 
of the White River neighboi'hood entertained a lofty idea of the 
BluiFs as a future shipping port. The Commissioners for the loca- 
tion of the capital building visited the spot, and, it is said, that a 
minority favored the place. But the capital had gone elsewhere, 
and the White River people now set about the organization of a 
county with such territorial boundaries as would enable the Bluffs 
to compete for a county seat location. With county lines so 
firmly established as they are to-day, and Central Indiana so 
handsomely platted into counties as it is, it is difficult to appre- 
ciate the claims that must have been put forth ; but let it be borne 
in mind that Central Indiana was at that time a great wilderness, 
with here and there a little settlement, and that the Bluffs was one 
of the noted places in the land. 

There were those in the Blue River settlement aspiring in be- 
half of their new town of Edinburg ; but, while the White River 
people organized, and employed a lawyer to attend the Legisla- 
ture and look after their interest, those of Blue River seem to 
have taken no active part in the matter. 

George King took upon himself the burden of seeing that the 
territory lying between Shelby and Morgan Counties was duly 
organized, and to that end a petition was duly prepared, and 
was circulated by John Smiley. According to contemporaneous 
memory. Smiley seems to have brought to his aid a zeal that 
insured a numerously signed paper. All the men and all the 
boys in the Sugar Creek settlement, on both sides the Shelby 
line, and the larger majority of those living in Blue River, signed 
that petition, in person or by proxy, and Col. James Gregory, 
a Senator from Shelby County, as the friend of the new enter- 
prise, claimed that it contained the names of all who had died 
and of some who had never lived in the country. That petition 
was never submitted to a legislative committee ; but Mr. Smiley 
went into Washington County, where he had formerly lived, and 
there he procured signers to a petition which was used. 

Armed with his petitions. King, on his way home to Kentucky, 
turned aside and stopped at Cory don, where the Legislature was 
in session, and the battle was soon on. Harvey Gregg, a shrewd 
lawyer and an active politician, winning in manner and popular 
in his address, who had lately moved to the new capital from 
Kentucky, was there as the representative of the White River in- 
terest. King feared Gregg and his winning ways, and, had it not 
been for geographical position, the lawyer would most likely have 
carried off the prize, and the Bluffs have been a county town. 



26 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

A Mr. Johnson, from some point still lower down White River, 
also appeared upon the scene, and, as the sequel will show, lacked 
little of securing the prize to himself, in spite of all others. His 
plan, as also the plan of Gregg, is not now remembered, and, but 
for the testimony of some who took part in these scenes, it would 
be difficult to believe that any legislator could seriously have 
thought of disturbing the harmony of counties already organized. 

King and Gregory, finding their interests identical, pulled to- 
gether. The Sugar Creek and Blue River petition was destroyed, 
on the advice of the latter, but a bill was prepared, and the Wash- 
ington County petition kept in the field. 

In the House of Representatives, the King bill was passed at 
once ; but in the Senate, trouble began. King was acquainted 
with but two members in that body, one of whom was Marston 
G. Clarke, the member from Washington, and a nephew of the 
celebrated George Rogers Clarke. He was a stern, dignified man, 
" barely able," says Oliver H. Smith, " to read a chapter in the Bi- 
ble, and Avrote his name as large as John Hancock's in the Dec- 
laration of Independence." His sense of justice was acute, his 
mental force great, and his influence in the Senate almost un- 
bounded. A man of his character and temperament, King 
thought it not safe to attempt to influence in behalf of his bill, 
lest he should be suspected of mercenary motives, and a prejudice 
spring up in the mind of the legislator against him and his 
measure. 

For two weeks, Gregg and King were making their best endeav- 
ors to carry their respective measures to a triumphant issue. In 
the House, Gregg was powerless ; and in the Senate, so was 
King. In the House, every measure antagonistic to the King 
bill was voted down ; while in the Senate, no action was taken. 

There was but one map of the State at the time, accessible to 
members of the Legislature, and it not infrequently happened, 
that, while one committee was using it, another wanted it. In the 
belief that a map placed before the Senate Committee on the 
Organization of Counties, at the proper time, might be in his favor, 
King procured paper and the necessary instruments, and, occupy- 
ing the better part of a night in the work, he traced out a rude 
map of the State. 

In a few days, the Senate Committee on the Organization of 
Counties was to meet, and Johnson asked for the use of King's 
map for that committee. Gen. Clarke, who was a member of the 
committee, was not present during the early part of the meeting, 
nor was Harvey Gregg ; and Johnson, who was a fluent talker 
and an importunate man, had it all his own way. The commit- 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 27 

tee, as a compromise measure doubtless, agreed to report in favor 
of his plan ; but before the session adjourned, Clarke came in 
and inquired what had been done. Being told, he studied the 
map attentively for some moments, and then burst out with: 
"That fellow," pointing to Johnson, "or some friend of his.^ 
owns land on which he expects the county seat of this new 
county to be located," and, at this sally, Johnson indignantly left 
the room. 

Then King approached the table on which the map lay and 
pointed out, as well as he could, the reasons why the House bill 
organizing Johnson County should become a law ; and, after con- 
sidering the matter carefully, Gen. Clarke said, " You shall have 
it, sir! " and, before the committee adjourned, it was agreed to 
report in favor of the House bill. 

The next day the report was accordingly made and concurred 
in, the bill was passed, and, on the last day of December, 1822, 
it received the Governor's signature and became a law of the 
land. It is in the following words : 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of In- 
diana, That from and after the first Monday in May next, all that part of 
the county of Delaware contained in the following boundaries, to wit: 
beginning at the southwest corner of Section thirty-four, in Township 
eleven north, of Range five east, the same being the southwest corner of 
Shelby County; thence running north with the line of said county to the 
southeast corner of Marion County; thence west to the northeast corner 
of Morgan County; thence south on the line of said county to the town- 
ship line dividing Townships ten and eleven; thence east to said line to the 
place of beginning — shall constitute and form a new county, which shall 
be called and designated by the name of Johnson. 

Sec. 2. That John Parr, of the county of "Washington; Adam Miller, 
of the county of Jackson; .Jol»n W. Lee, of the county of Monroe; James 
Gregory, of the county of Shelby, and Archibald McEwing, of the county 
of Bartholomew, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners for the 
purpose of fixing the permanent seat of justice for said county, agreeably 
to the provisions of an act entitled, "An act for fixing of seats of justice 
in all new counties to be laid off." The Commissioners above named or a 
majority of them shall meet at the house of John Smiley in said new county, 
on the first Monday in May, and proceed to the duties assigned them by 
law. 

Sec. 3. That the said county shall enjoy all the rights, privileges 
and jurisdictions, which, to a separate county, do or may properly be- 
long. 

Sec. 4. It shall be the duty of the Sheriff of Bartholomew County 
to notify the Commissioners above named, either in person or by written 
notice, of their said appointment, and the County Commissioners of the 
county of Johnson shall allow him such compensation therefor as they 
shall deem just and reasonable, to be paid out of the county treasury of 
said county. 

Sec. 5. The Circuit Court, and all other courts of said county of 
Johnson, shall meet and be holden at the house of John Smiley, or at any 
other place the said court shall adjourn to, until suitable accommodations 
can be provided at the permanent seat of justice of said county; and so 
soon as the said courts are satisfied of that fact, they shall adjourn thereto. 



28 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

after which thej^ shall meet and be permanentlj'^ held at such seat of 
justice. 

Sec. 6. The agent who shall be appointed to superintend the sales of 
lots at the said seat of justice shall reserve ten per centum out of the pro- 
ceeds thereof, and also of all donations made to said county, which he 
shall pay over to such person or persons as may be appointed by law to 
receive the same, for the use of a library for said county. 

Sec. 7. The Board of County Commissioners of said county^ of John- 
son shall, within twelve months after the permanent seat of justice shall 
have been selected, proceed to erect necessary public buildings therein. 

Sec. 8. The same powers, privileged and authorized, that are granted 
to the qualified voters of the county of Du Bois and other counties named 
in an act entitled, "xln act incorporating a county librarj^ in the counties 
therein named," approved January 38, 1819, to organize, conduct and support 
a county library, are hereby granted to the qualified voters of the county 
of Johnson, and the same power and authority therein granted to, and the 
same duties therein required of, the several officers and the person or per- 
sons elected by the qualified voters of Du Bois Countj^ and the other coun- 
ties in the said act named, for carrying into effect the provisions of the 
act entitled, "An act incorporating a county library in the county of Du- 
Bois," and the counties therein named, according to the true interest and 
meaning thereof, are hereby extended to and required of the officers and 
other persons elected by the qualified voters of the county of Johnson. 

Sec. 9. This act to be in force from and after its passage. 

G. W. Johnson, Speaker of the House of Bepresentatives. 
R.vTLiFP Boon, President Assembly. 

Approved December 31, 1822. William Hendricks. 

Oliver H. Smith was, at the time, a member of the Legisla- 
ture, and he proposed for the new county the name of Johnson, 
in memory of John Johnson, one of the Judges of the first Su- 
preme Court of the State. Gov. Hendricks at the same time 
appointed John Smiley, Sheriff' of the new county, and issued a 
writ of election directed to him, appointing the 8th of March, 
1823, as the day on which the qualified voters of the county were 
to assemble at the house of Hezekiah' Davison, on Blue River, 
and Daniel Boaz, on White River, and elect two Associate 
Judges, one Clerk of, the Circuit Court and one Recorder, in 
manner and form as required by law. 




HISTORICAL SKETCH OF .JOHNSON COUNTY. 29 



CHAPTER VI. 

COUNTY GOVERXMENT ORGANIZED. 

Johnson County now had a name. Its boundaries were defined 
by law. A SheriflF of the county had been appointed by the 
Governor of the State, and there was a population of about 550, 
living in its one hundred cabins, and that was all. There were 
no other county officers than that Sheriff. There was no county 
revenue. There were no county buildings, and the wild deer 
sported in the runways that threaded the spice thickets which 
grew upon the land lying between Young's Creek and the Hurri- 
cane. County officers had to be elected ; a revenue created ; a 
county seat located : public buildings erected ; roads cut out ; 
markets created ; churches and schools founded, and the wilderness 
cleared out ; and the men living in the little cabins on Blue River, 
Sugar Creek, Nineveh, White River and the head-waters of 
Pleasant Run, set about the work with an earnestness that 
augured well for their ultimate success. 

John Smiley was appointed by Gov. Hendricks as Sheriff of 
the new county, and a writ of election was issued to him appoint- 
ing the Sth day of March, 1 823, as the day on which the quali- 
fied voters of the county were to assemble at the house of Heze- 
kiah Davison, on Blue River, and at the house of Daniel Boaz, 
on White River, and elect two Associate Judges, one Clerk of the 
Circuit Court, one Recorder and three Commissioners. The 
Sheriff gave due notice of the election, and the places at which it 
was to be held, "by setting up written notices thereof in three of 
the most public places in each election district" ten days before 
the time designated. No record of voters' names or of the num- 
ber of votes cast at that election can be found. But the certifi- 
cates issued to the Associate Judges by the Sheriff have been 
perpetuated in the records of the Circuit Court. Israel Watts 
and Daniel Boaz were elected Associate Judges, Samuel Herriott, 
Clerk, William Shaffer, Recorder, and William Freeman, John 
S. Miller* and James Ritchey, Commissioners. It is not in 
memory whether Watts and Boaz had opponents or not ; nor is it 
remembered that the Recorder did ; but there were three candi- 

* I here is authority for saying that William Reynolds was chosen, and not Miller. Am- 
brose n. Barnett, a young man at the time the election was held, remambers the fact thus. But 
Samuel Uerriott, who waa an actor in the scenes of the time, and who transacted business with 
the Commissioners, always spoke of Miller as one of their number, and so have other old men, 
notably the late Thomas Williams. The matter is in doubt, and it is to be greatly regretted that 
the written records of the first Commissioners have boeu lost. 



30 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

dates for Clerk — Samuel Herriott, John A. Mow and William Will- 
iamson. The two former lived in the Blue River neighborhood, 
while the latter Avas stopping at the house of Joab Woodruff, of 
Nineveh, whither he had lately gone from Bartholomew County 
for the purpose of standing as a candidate for Clerk of the Cir- 
cuit Court.* Of the contest in White River, nothing whatever is 
known, but in Blue River much has been kept in memory. On 
the morning of the election, a keg of whisky was caused to be 
brought upon the ground by Williamson — the .first full keg ever 
brought into the county — and was tapped for the use of all thirsty 
voters. And, not content with offering the beverage freely to all 
on the ground, jugs of it were sent out by the hands of trusted 
friends, and voters were intercepted on the trails and paths and 
liberally treated to " Williamson whisky " before they reached the 
polls. There were not many in those days who would refuse a 
drink of whisky, and, as this was a rare commodity in the woods 
at the time, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the potations 
were frequent and deep on the part of many present. Certain it 
is, that many of the voters grew so noisy that the immediate 
friends of Herriott and Mow became despondent, while William- 
son's following became correspondingly elated. Then followed 
boasting and bantering, upon the heels of which came fighting. 
How many fisticuifs took place is not known, but the combatants 
beat, bit, scratched and gouged each other, and wallowed in the 
mud and mire, as was never known in the country before, and not 
for many a day after. But, when the vote came to be counted, it 
was found that Herriott had received more votes than both his 
competitors, and he was declared elected. Five men were candi- 
dates for County Commissioners, the three chosen, and Joseph M. 
Townsend, of Blue River, and Nathaniel Bell, of White River. 
By the organic act, the new county could not assume political 
functions until the 1st day of May, 1823, but the County Com- 
missioners were required to meet on the second Monday of that 
month at the house of John Smiley, and thereafter at the usual 
places of holding the Circuit Courts on the second Mondays in 
August, November, February and May of each year. No record 
remains of the official action of the first Board of Commissioners 
of the county, nor have I met with any one who specially remem- 
bered anything of its proceedings except the late Samuel Herriott, 
who kept in his mind the circumstance of the naming of the 
county seat. 

*At the first election held in Shelby County, Samuel Aldridge, living in Johnson County, 
on the line, wished to be a candidate for Clerk, and " the boys " moved his cabin over into 
Shelby. He was a candidate, wa3 elected, and became a permanent citiaen of that county. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 31 

On the same day that the County Commissioners were required 
to meet at the house of John Smiley and organize the first Com- 
missioners' Court of the county, the Commissioners named in the 
organic act of the county, for the purpose of locating a county 
seat, were required to meet at the same place in the discharge of 
their duty. Of the five men appointed, three met at the time and 
place set apart — Col. James Gregory, of Shelby County, and 
Maj. McEwen, of Bartholomew ; but the name of the third is for- 
gotten. 

Two localities were submitted to the Commission, one on 
the lands of Amos Durbin, near the mouth of Sugar Creek, 
where a " paper village " had already been laid out, and the other 
on the lands of George King, at the mouth of the Hurricane. 
These places were duly examined, and then George King prof- 
fered to show them over the southeast quarter of Section 8, in 
ToAvnship 12, Range 4, which cornered with the center of the 
county, and which tract King had purchased with a view to the 
possible location of the county seat at that point. But a heavy 
rain came on, and the Commissioners were driven in, and at once 
proceeded to locate the town on the southwest (|uarter of the 
southeast quarter of Section 13, Township 12 north. Range 4 
east, which forty-acre tract King donated to the county, together 
with eleven acres lying between it and Young's Creek. 

It was made the duty of the Commissioners, after making the 
location, to report the same to the County Commissioners, and, 
on this being done, on the suggestion of Samuel Herriott, who 
had recently read a life of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and was a 
sincere admirer of that great man, the new county town received 
the name of Franklin. 

The law in force required the Board of County Commissioners 
to appoint a county agent, whose duty, among other things, it 
was " to receive good and sufficient deeds of conveyance for any 
land which may have been given for the use of the county, * * 
and to lay off the same into town lots, streets and alleys, accord- 
ing to such plan as the County Commissioners may direct,"' and 
to sell the lots under the order and direction of the Commission- 
ers, and pay the money into the treasury. John Campbell, the 
Irishman, was appointed such agent, and he seems to have set 
about his work soon after. Some time in September, David 
McCaughron, a surveyor from Bartholomew County, surveyed 
the new town, and, upon the authority of the late Jefferson D. 
Jones, it may be said that the bend in Madison street remains as 
a silent, though perpetual, witness to the intoxicated condition of 
that surveyor when he run the line of that street. 



32 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

The first sale of lots was advertised for the 2d day of Septem- 
ber, 1823, and on that day the County Agent, provided with 
" whisky and paper " of the value of $1.18f , for which the county 
paid, sold a number of lots adjoining the public square ; and, on 
the 14th day of the same month, he exposed to sale other of the 
town lots. The principal sales were on the south and east sides 
of the square, and prices ranged from $19 for the lot on which 
the jail stands, to $40.50 for No. 61, which lies immediately 
south of the jail lot. The brush was grubbed out of the public 
square by Nicholas Shaffer for $6.58, and David McCaslin, Na- 
thaniel Poor and Jacob Freeman performed labor in and about, 
clearing the square of growing timber, while the citizens of the 
place voluntarily rolled and burned the logs of nights. 

It was made the duty of the Commissioners to partition the 
county into convenient townships, and this duty they must have 
performed soon after being inducted into office, for, from the 
August election returns for 1823, it appears that three townships 
had been organized — Blue River, Nineveh and White River. 
Blue River seems to have been confined to so much of Congres- 
sional Township 11, Range 5, as is in Johnson County. White 
River extended over all the territory now included in White 
River, Pleasant and Clark, and Nineveh extended over all of Nin- 
eveh, Franklin, Union and Hensley. 

It is uncertain, at this time, when the contract for building a 
court house was let, but it is certain that the house was not ready 
for occupancy in March, 1824, but was ready in October of the 
same year. William Shaffer, the County Recorder, who was by 
occupation a carpenter, undertook the work, and it is safe to as- 
sume that it was begun in the spring of 1824, and that the con- 
tract Avas let by the first Board of Commissioners, but for what 
price is now unknown. The late Thomas Williams, however, who 
was the owner of the only yoke of oxen then in or about the new 
town, drew the logs to the building site for $1. The new court 
house was in keeping with the poverty of the county. It was 
two stories high, was built of hewed logs, and a broad wooden 
outside stair led from the ground up to the second floor, which 
was the court room. This was furnished with a table, two " splint- 
bottomed chairs, one for the Judge and one for the Clerk," with 
wooden benches without backs for the accommodation of lawyers, 
jurymen, litigants and spectators. This firfet court house was 
built upon the lot situate immediately in the rear of the lot on 
which the bank buildings are erected. 

A jail was not yet provided. It is in memory, that, before a 
jail house was up, a prisoner, under sentence of imprisonment, was 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 33 

sent from an Edinburg Justice's Court, and that John Smiley, in 
lieu of a better place of confinement, chained the culprit to a 
stump in the public square his allotted time. But the chain and 
stump did not serve the purpose in all cases, for, in 1826, we find 
the Board of Justices of the county making allowances out of the 
county treasury for the guarding of prisoners. 

A contract for building the jail must have been let some time in 
the first half of 1826 to Samuel Herriott. At the July term of 
the Board of Justices, it was ordered that the contractor put two 
windows in the jail, one in each end, seven inches by eighteen, 
and that the logs for the jail should be seventeen feet long instead 
of eighteen, and that, instead of ceiling the "upper loft" with 
poplar plank, it be " laid down with hewed timbers nine inches 
thick." From this order, the character of the structure may be 
perceived, and further, that the material had not yet been pre- 
pared. In the following January, the board accepted the build- 
ing, but there nowhere appear sufficient data to enable us to fix 
upon the price paid. 

Steps were undoubtedly taken by the first Commissioners to 
raise a county revenue, but the loss of the records has carried the 
financial history of the county for the first three years into irre- 
coverable oblivion. 

The organic act required the Circuit Court to meet at the house 
of John Smiley, and, accordingly, on the 16th day of October, 
1823, William W. Wick, Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit, 
repaired to the place indicated, and, meeting the Associate Judges, 
Israel Watts and Daniel Boaz, and the Clerk, Samuel Herriott, 
and the Sheriff, John Smiley, at that place, the Johnson Circuit 
Court was formally opened. The Sheriff brought in, as he was 
commanded, twelve " discreet householders " to serve as a grand 
jury, whose names are as follows : William Barnett, Thomas 
Doan, John Harter, George King, Jonathan Palmer, John White, 
John A. Mow, Joab Woodruff, William Foster, John Jacobs, 
John S. Miller, Simon Shaffer, Jefferson D. Jones and John 
Frazier. Three lawyers were present — Daniel B. Wick, James 
Dunlavy and Calvin Fletcher. Smiley's house was a double log 
cabin, one room of which the court occupied, and the other the 
grand jury. Mrs. Smiley was sick at the time, and occupied the 
room with the grand jury, but the record does not state the fact. 
Daniel B. Wick, the Judge's brother, served as prosecuting attor- 
ney, and Mrs. Smiley remembered that he had a bottle of whisky 
in his pocket, and that, with great gallantry, he offered her a 
drink from his bottle, which she declined taking, and then he 
passed it to each grand juryman in turn, but whether each or any 
drank with him, is not said. 



34 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

As an evidence of the hospitality of the times, it may be stated 
that dinner enough for all was prepared, and, on invitation, court, 
jurors, lawyers, by-standers, all sat down thereat. Mrs. Ruther- 
wood, still living, superintended the preparation of that dinner. 
Three indictments were found by the grand jury, one judgment 
t;iken, and, on petition of Amos Durbin, three Commissioners, 
Absalom Lowe, John Campbell and Joseph Young, were ap- 
pointed Viewers, to view a proposed change in the State road, 
and the court adjourned in the evening of the first day. 




HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 35 



CHAPTER VII. 

PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENT. 

A review of the progress of the colonization of the county sub- 
sequent to its organization and up to the time when every section 
of land had its cabin, falls within the scope of this history ; but 
the data necessary in order to a fairly satisfactory record have been 
so eluding that the writer enters upon the theme without confi- 
dence as to results. 

On that last day of the year 1822, when Gov. William Hen- 
dricks approved of the act which brought Johnson County into 
the sisterhood of counties, there was living within the limits of 
her boundary lines, according to the best estimate that can now be 
made, about five hundred and fifty souls, all told. Of these, at 
least three hundred and fifty lived within the present limits of 
Blue River Township. Edinburg, the oldest town in that town- 
ship, and also in the county, was staked ofi" probably in the spring 
of 1822, and a dry goods store, a smith-shop, and a house of pub- 
lic entertainment, the first of these in the county, were shortly 
afterward opened therein. This new town with these conven- 
iences attracted emigrants to the neighborhood, as also did the 
fertile and well-drained lands of the township. The fame of the 
Blue River country, its timber, its rich soil and its dry slopes 
was carried abroad by every traveler and land-hunter who followed 
the Indian trail from the river counties or beyond to the new 
capital grounds of the State. We have had occasion heretofore 
to note the approving exclamation of John Tipton as he went 
by on his way to locate the capital. Men hunting homes, came 
trooping in, and, by the time the county was organized, nearly 
one-half the lands of the township had passed into the hands of 
private owners. The first year, purchasers covered 4,400 acres, 
the highest number of acres ever bought in that township in any 
one year, and a number not reached in any other township be- 
fore 1833. In 1821, the purchases run up to 2,480 acres, but, 
from that time on, they fell below 1,000 per year, until the 
whole was consumed. The last entry was by Lewis J. Hender- 
son, in 1846, of a 40-acre tract lying just above the mouth of 
Young's Creek. 

But the reader of tract-books and deed records must ever bear 
in mind that it is not every man who becomes a land-holder in a 
new country that becomes an inhabitant. And so we are driven 



36 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

to the few and often defective tabulated statements of the votes 
cast at the elections of the period, which have escaped the ravages 
of time and fire, and are compelled to read therein as best we may 
the record of the annual growth of the county in population. But, 
while studying the tabulated votes, we do not forget that voters 
stayed at home in those days as well as in these, and, besides, that the 
voter then could lawfully cast his vote at whatever precinct in the 
county he happened at the time to be. Other disturbing elements 
might be suggested, but enough have been given to convince the 
reader that the population for any year can be given only approxi- 
mately, save the years of the census. 

There was a steady and uninterrupted growth in Blue River 
from the beginning. In 1825, the population had reached at 
least 400, and, in 1826, 470, and, in 1827, 550, and, in 1828, 
600, after which there seems to have been not any specially 
noticeable increase of growth before 1835. 

At the August election for 1823, there were nineteen votes cast 
in Nineveh Township, but of these, eleven lived without the bor- 
ders of the Congressional Township which now constitutes Nine- 
veh. But there were men living in the township who did not vote, 
and, from the names of voters given, as well as from other sources, 
the population for that year may safely be computed at 128. The 
lands entered in 1822 run to 880 acres, and were in three locali- 
ties, one in the southeast corner of the township, one on the 
Nineveh, in the neighborhood of the after-site of Williamsburg, 
and one near the center of the township. The southeast corner 
entries made by Bartholomew, Applegate and others, were a con- 
tinuation of the entries made in Blue River, but the settlements 
established by Robert Worl, Joab Woodruff, John S. Miller, 
David Trout, Daniel and Henry Mussulman and others on the 
Nineveh, and the settlements made by Robert and David Forsyth, 
Daniel Pritchard, and others near the center of the township, grew 
from the beginning. By the close of 1826, a fraction less than a 
quarter of all the lands of the township had been taken up, and the 
principal entries had been made in a line running from north to 
south through the township, and in a crossing line running with a 
slight obliquity from the southwest to the southeast By the 
close of 1880, a little less than one-half the lands had passed 
from the United States, and, in 1847, the last forty-acre tract, 
situate in the southwest section of the township, was purchased 
from the Government by Elijah McEndree. 

Here,- as well as elsewhere, settlers moved in steadily until the 
township was fairly peopled. In 1825, the population was not 
less than 250, and, by the election of the following year, it had 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 37 

come up to about 350. In 1827, there were not less than 480, 
and at this rate the increase kept up to 1830, when there were 
fully 650 souls living within its borders. 

No one has ever cast his eye over the map of the townships of 
Johnson County without being struck witli the disproportion in 
size between Franklin and the other townships. It contains an 
area of seventy square miles as against forty-eight in White River, 
forty-two in Pleasant, thirty-six in Union, Nineveh and Hensly 
each, thirty-five in Clark, and twenty-four in Blue River. It 
would be in vain to lament the failure of the Commissioners 
appointed for the purpose to locate the county seat at the center 
of the county; but, if this had been done, it is evident that the 
territory now comprised within the boundaries of Franklin Town- 
ship would have been organized into two townships, and the map 
of the county have presented a less unequal appearance. 

The first entries of land made in this township were, on the east 
side, by John Ogle and John C. Lane, on the 27th of July, 1821. 
Squire Hendricks, William Rutherford and others made entries 
the same year on the east and south sides, amounting in all to 
880 acres, while David and William Burkhart located an eighty- 
acre tract in the west half of the township. The lands in the tier 
of Sections lying in Township 12, Range 5, and adjoining Shelby 
County, were nearly all taken up during the years 1821, 1822 
and 1823, but, after that, the entries in that township (12) were 
only occasional until 1831. The pioneer settlers of Franklin 
Township were William Burkhart and Levi Moore, and next after 
them, in 1823, came George King, David W. McCaslin and 
Simon Covert into the center of the township, and, in the same 
year, John Mozingo, Squire Hendricks and a man by the name 
of Smith, and one by the name of Taylor, settled on the east 
side. The " Sugar Creek neighborhood " of this county was a 
part of the " Sugar Creek neighborhood " of Shelby, and the 
reason for the slow growth of the east side may be found in the 
fact that immigrants drawn to that neighborhood were as apt to 
settle in Shelby County as in Johnson. 

Another neighborhood — the Hopewell — was founded on the west 
side, by Col. Simon Covert, who moved there in 1825. In the 
same year, Thomas Henderson came into Covert's vicinity inquir- 
ing for a tract of land whereon was a suitable site for the location 
of a church and a schoolhouse, and he entered the ({uarter-section 
at the " Big Spring." The Hopewell neighborhood thus founded 
had a marvelous growth. All who moved in were Kentuckians, 
and most of these were from Henry, Shelby and Mercer Coun- 
ties, and were descended from a Dutch colony that moved from 



38 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

near Hackensack, in New Jersey, during the latter half of the 
last century. 

The new town of Franklin, near the center of the township, 
formed a third nucleus of settlement, but for several years the 
country to the south and west was more thickly peopled than to 
the east and north. 

A study of the tract-book reveals the fact that, up to 1831, the 
entries on the east side were very few, while to the west of the 
town they were very numerous, save for 1821, as we have re- 
marked above. Thus, in 1822, there were 640 acres purchased 
on the east side to 1,040 on the west. In 1825, there were 320 
acres on the east side to 1,760 on the west. In 1827, there were 
80 on the east to 2,120 on the west. In 1830, there were 80 on 
the east to 1,920 on the west ; but, in the following year, the pur- 
chases ran up to 1,520 on the east side to 1,760 on the west, and, 
in 1833, there were 2,280 acres bought on the east to 3,000 on 
the west side, while the next year the purchases on the east side 
ran up to 2,800 to 2,250 on the west side; and, the year after, 
there were 2,380 on the east side to 700 on the west, and now 
the land was all purchased on both sides, save a tract here and there, 
thought to be below grade. 

From this review, of sales of land in the township, it is evident 
that the weight of population, after the first year or two, was on 
the west side, and that the east half of the township had no rapid 
growth until after 1830. 

From the vote cast at an election held in Franklin in 1824, 
and from other sources, we may conclude that the population of 
the township at that time was not less than 150, but the vote the 
two following years would indicate but a slight increase, which 
accords with the fact. In 1827, however, there was a population 
of nearly or quite 500, and thence on to 1830, there was a 
steady increase, running the number of inhabitants up to at least 
1,000 or more in that year. 

Passing over into the northwest corner of the county, we find 
that the first settlements were made in White River Township, 
on the high and dry uplands skirting the White River bottoms, 
these ridges producing a heavy growth of wild cherry, hackberry, 
buckeye, blue ash, sugar tree, chinquipin, black walnut, butter- 
nut, poplar, honey locust and beech, the last of which, carrying 
the most beautiful spreading tops anywhere to be seen, must have 
presented a charming view to the first comers. At the date of 
the organization of the county, the population could not have ex- 
ceeded fifteen or twenty voters, if so many. Two years after, it 
had increased at least to 165 souls, and the next year it ran up 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OK JOHNSON COUNTY. 39 

to 375, and steadily grew, until, in 1830, it must have reached a 
figure very little, if any, below 600. A study of the tract-book 
discloses the fact that the line of settlement began on the north 
sid^, well up toward the northeast corner of the township, and 
swept thence, with a curve to the west, down to the point Avhere 
Crooked Creek crosses the county line. This line of settlement 
gradually pushed to the southeast, and, by 1836, the lands of the 
township had been absorbed by buyers. 

Although Whetzel's trace and the great Indian trail crossed 
each other within the confines of Pleasant Township, yet it is a 
curious fact, that, of the first settlers of that township, no more 
than two are believed to have availed themselves of either of 
these roads when moving in. Daniel Loper, as we have seen, came 
to the crossing in the fall of 1820, and he must have come by the 
way of Whetzel's trace. Nathaniel Bell entered Loper's claim 
from under him on December 3, 1821, and he moved in by the 
way of the trace, while Loper went back to Whetzel's old camp 
on Camp Creek. From the time when Bell entered and moved 
in, up to 1823, no others came in. In that year, Isaac Smock, 
Cornelius Smock, John B. Smock and Peter Vanarsdall, entered 
a quarter-section each in the northern part of the township, and 
Isaac and John B. Smock moved in the same year. The growth 
of this township was very slow for several years. The number of 
entries, in 1824, was only five, and it was not until 1830 that 
there was any marked emigration to the place. In 1829, the 
territory east of the present east boundary line of White River 
Township was stricken off from the latter and organized into 
Pleasant Township, and, in 1830, at the first election held in that 
township, there were thirty-five votes cast ; but, as there were liv- 
ing at that time at least twenty voters within the present bound- 
aries of Clark Township, who could have voted at Greenwood, it 
is impossible to fix Avith any certainty upon the population at that 
time from the election returns ; but from other sources the popu- 
lation in that year may be estimated at 250. Up to that year, 
the highest number of persons making entry any one year was 
in 1825, when there were seven. The Smock settlement at and 
about Greenwood was the center of the Pleasant Township set- 
tlement for a number of years. Nathaniel Bell, who was located 
we.^t of the center of the township, and near the west line, was in 
ill repute wherever known, and he repelled, rather than draw 
settlers to him. But in 1824, the Mauks Ferry road was cut 
out, and shortly after, probably the same year, the Madison 
State road, and it became the fashion to settle on the line of road, 
south of Smock's; and, while the Smock settlement gradually 



40 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

lengthened its borders, the settlements planted on the road grew 
to the east and to the west, until the work of colonization was 
done. In 1830, as above indicated, there was a perceptible 
impetus given to emigration. The entries for that year aggre- 
gate 1,440 acres, and, for each of the following years we have as 
the acres entered— 1,840, 2,140, 2,320, 3,040, 8,600— which 
brings us up to the close of 1835. The best lands had now been 
taken up, but in 1830 buyers were able to pick out, here and there, 
tracts containing in the aggregate 1,360 acres, and the next year 
160 acres were entered, which closed out the public lands in that 
township. 

In 1825, Richardson Hensly, a native of Virginia, but who 
had moved to Kentucky when quite a young man, and, after a 
time, from there to Jackson County, Ind., where he had resided 
a short time, came to Johnson County in search of a home. 
Hearing that the southwest corner township was a wilderness, he 
picked his way through the brush thitherward, and made a set- 
tlement on a quarter-section cornering with the center of what 
has since become Hensly Township. 

Richardson Hensly moved to his place in March, and was accom- 
panied by William Davenport and William Mitchell, his sons-in- 
law, and their families. Within a short time after Hensly, 
Davenport and Mitchell had reached their destination, John 
Stephens, a Tennesseean, came in with his family. Two or three 
families followed Hensly the same spring, and quite a number 
came in during the fall and purchased lands. Of these, Richard 
Perry bought in the northeast corner of the township late in De- 
cember, and it is not unlikely that he moved to his purchase at 
once. Mitchell Ross, and Charles, his brother, bought in De- 
cember also, but on the extreme west . border of the county, and 
they at once moved to their purchases. The following year, 
there was quite an accession to the township, but principally to 
the Hensly neighborhood. Not less than a dozen families settled 
on Indian Creek. A few went into the Ross neighborhood, and 
some into the northeast corner. The entries in 1825 footed up 
an aggregate of 1,360 acres; the next year, 1,640, and, in 1827, 
1,680 ; but, in 1828, the acreage fell to 320, and, in 1829, it was 
no more than 240. In 1830, it arose to 1,280, and, with the ex- 
ception of 1831, when it sank to 640, varied not far from 1,000 
acres per year, up to 1836, when it suddenly shot up to nearly 
5,000 acres. More than fifty families must have moved in about 
this time. In 1837, the entries fell to 1,320 acres, after which 
there were occasional purchases up to 1850, when the last eighty- 
acre tract was bought by Morgan Ford. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 41 

By the close of 1827, there must have been thirty voters in the 
township, which, l)y the rule recognized by legislators, would give 
a population of 150, though the actual population was settled at 
200 or more, and it is at this time that the township was organ- 
ized and received its name, at the suggestion of the late Samuel 
Herriott, in honor of its pioneer settler. By 1830, as many as 
300 in all must have been living in Hensly. 

Bartholomew Carroll pushed out upon the banks of the south 
fork of Stott's Creek as early as 1823, and made the first perma- 
nent settlement in Union. But the Congressional township now 
comprising Union was literally "backwoods" in that day, and 
no others went in to keep Carroll company for three years. 

In 1823, David Scott had made an entry in the township but 
no other entries were made until 1826, when Peter Vandiver, 
Garrett Terhune, Henry Banta, Josiah Simpson, John Garsh- 
wiler, Isaac C. Disbrow and Thomas Roberts bought. Four set- 
tlements were soon founded, one by Peter Vandiver, on the south 
side ; one on the east side, extending to the northeast corner ; 
one in the center, and one in the north and northwest corner, on 
the North Fork of Stotts Creek. That settlement was made up 
principally of Virginians, who belonged, in fact, to a White River 
neighborhood, but the other settlements were filled mainly by 
Kentuckians. In 18j27, there were 1,200 acres entered by thir- 
teen men, and, in 1828, 1,960 acres by twenty-two men. The 
next two years the entries fell more than half from that year, but, 
in 1831, they run up to over 3,000 acres, and, from that on, the 
entries are large each year, being 2,120 acres in 1832, then 2,040, 
then 1,640, then 2,800, and, in 1836, running up to 3,120, when 
the main body of the lands was taken up. 

Clark Township was the backward township of the county. 
No settlements were made here of consequence before 1825 and 
1826, and even then, up to about 1834, pioneers came in slowly. 
After that, there was a decided increase, until the township was 
fairly stocked with inhabitants. 



42 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THROUGH JOHNSON COUNTY FIFTY-FIVE YEARS AGO. 

(WRITTEN BY JUDGE FRANKLIN HARDEN.) 

After a hard day's travel along the Whetzel trace, the writer, 
then a lad, just entered into his sixteenth year, accompanied by 
his mother, an elderly widow lady of sixty, called at the resi- 
dence of Lewis Morgan, in the northwest part of Shelby County, 
Ind. It was Saturday evening of the last week in October, 1825. 
Between his house on the "trace" and the northwest part of 
Johnson County, their place of destination, there was at that 
time but one house, if house it could be called, and that was the 
celebrated Nathaniel Bell's. Bell's location was at the great cross- 
ing of the Whetzel and Berry traces. This crossing of the two 
traces was renowned for a hundred miles away in every direction, 
and was a prominent point in all the travels of the pioneers in the 
New Purchase. Morgan's was the last house — the only chance 
for a lodging in a distance of twenty miles westward ; for Bell's 
"was generally avoided. Morgan's was the place aimed at when 
leaving in the morning forty miles eastward. " By hard travel, 
you can reach Morgan's by night. He is a first-rate man, his 
house is your last chance," said our parting host when we left 
him in the morning. Then the pioneers knew one another for 
fifty or a hundred miles away, quite as well as cold-hearted neigh- 
bors know one another now only a mile apart. Wearied and 
jaded by horseback riding, we called at the last place, Lewis 
Morgan's, late in the evening, and politely requested a lodging for 
an old lady and a boy. The request was kindly granted, and we 
were welcomed into the pioneer residence of this good man as if 
we had been former intimate acquaintances. I shall never forget 
that night. I was only a boy from an old settlement across the 
Ohio, where manners and customs were fossilized, and admitted 
of little change. Here everything was new and startling. A 
thousand questions were propounded by me and obligingly and 
intelligently answered by Mr. Morgan. I wish I could recall 
the whole conversation. I would incorporate it verbatim as part 
of this fii'st entrance into Johnson County, believing that it would 
contain much that would be interesting to the present population 
along Sugar Creek. Mr. Morgan had been to the Legislature ; 
he was a fine talker, a fair type of the pioneers who first gave 
shape to the policy of our State in its embryonic condition. He 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 43 

gave me a history of his exploits in the chase in pursuit of the 
wild game then everywhere abundant ; the public surveys of the 
wild lands around him by the Messrs. Hendricks ; the dense and 
tangled jungles of brushwood and fallen logs along the rich valley 
of Sugar Creek ; the difficulty of traveling in a direct line through 
them ; of men frequently lost for many days before they could 
find their way out. Said he : " One fine Sunday morning in July, 
I visited Sugar Creek, and, looking down the stream, I saw, a 
mile away, some moving object in the creek wading up stream. 
Its nearer approach showed it was a man with tattered garments 
and bare-headed, either Indian or white man. He never left 
the stream, but waded in the water. Occasionally he halted, and, 
as if in doubt about something, threw a piece of drift-wood into i^- 

the stream and carefully watched its motions as if to ascertain 
whether he was ascending or descending." Mr. Morgan concluded 
that he was insane, and announced himself to this strange being. 
When he discovered Mr. Morgan, he no longer waded, but, leap- 
ing on the shore, ran toward him extending his arms to embrace 
him. In half-choked words, he cried, " God bless your soul ! I 
never was so glad to see a man in my life. For ten days I have 
been lost, and wading the water, and subsisting on berries." Was 
the man insane f By no means. Instead, he was one of the 
finest woodsmen in the State. The eastern and western parts of 
the State were first occupied by white men, leaving an inter- 
mediate space occupied by the Indians, and which constituted, 
when finally sold by them, the " New Purchase, ' about which we 
are now writing. This lost man made frequent trips across this 
intermediate wild portion, as business required, without regard to 
trail or trace. On this trip, he must have struck the valley of 
Sugar Creek, near Needham's. He was thirsty. He came to a 
low, rich valley, covered with spicewood. In his judgment, it 
was a valley of some stream of water near at hand. Leaving his 
horse in an open space to graze, and throwing down his overcoat, 
he went on foot in search of it. He traveled on and on, the 
valley was unchanged, and there was no water. He turned back 
and sought in vain, but could not find his horse by retracing his 
steps. By calling him, however, the horse came to him, but he 
never found his overcoat. Remounting, he endeavored to resume 
his former line of direction through the impervious spicewood, 
prickly ash and over prostrate logs, but in vain ; he always re- 
turned into his former trail. Then he turned his horse loose to 
shift for himself, and, by watching his movements, he endeavored 
to move in a straight line, but in vain. Always he moved in a 
curve. For several days he floundered about through the dense 



44 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

brushwood and over fallen logs in this valley. In his wanderings, 
however, he at last reached Sugar Creek. He had a knowledge 
of this locality, of Whetzel's trace to the north of him, and of 
the settlers on it. Starting up stream, he found the creek very 
ci'ooked, and, to shorten his route, he endeavored to cut across 
its bends, but, as before, ever found himself going the wrong way, 
and down stream. Determined no longer to be foiled, he stepped 
into the water and waded, and often tested, by throwing light 
pieces of driftwood, whether he was going up or down. By this 
test only, was he enabled to follow the stream in the desired 
direction. This story is strictly given as received, and Mr. Mor- 
gan's character for truth and veracity is an infallible guaranty of 
its truthfulness. 

The next morning was Sunday, and, having bidden good bye 
to our kind friend, under his direction we were sent around the 
north end of the "Great Gulf," as it was usually called, thus 
leaving Whetzel's trace at Morgan's, and going up Sugar Croek, 
first on one side and then crossing at Huff's Mill and traveling 
up the west bank till our northing amounted to two or three 
miles, thence westward, near where Madison Morgan long after 
resided, and crossing Flat Creek and Leatherwood, at the north 
end of the Gulf, and thence along its western bank to a point 
directly west of Lewis Morgan's, to the Whetzel trace, at a point 
called at the time Loper's Cabin, but long before known and 
named Camp Creek by the Whetzels. When Whetzel marked 
out his trace in the summer of 1818, the weather being exceed- 
ingly dry, the waters of the great gulf had disappeared, and he 
ran straight across it from Morgan's to Camp Creek. Here he 
found drinkable water, the first after crossing Sugar Creek. At 
this place, Jacob Whetzel established his camp and operated both 
ways in opening his trace to the emigrant and traveler, carrying 
water to drink through the day, and at night returning to Camp 
Creek, until the waters of Honey Creek became accessible. He, 
therefore, named the little brook that quenched his thirst and ran 
by his camp, Camp Creek, since most shamefully and ungrate- 
fully changed into Hurricane, because of a few windfalls found 
along its banks. Here is the primitive point within the borders 
of Johnson County, where the first ax was lifted up against the 
forest with reference to the ingress of civilization into the rich 
valley of White River. Jacob Whetzel and Cyrus, his son, were 
the pioneers of the "New Purchase," and, while yet the Indians 
held dominion over it, by permission of their chiefs they cut out 
the first highway in the summer of 1818, and drove the first team 
over it in 1819. He opened the way to the emigrant, and secured 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 45 

an early occupation of the country. In justice to tlieir memory, 
the streamlet should still be called Camp Creek, for the name 
would provoke inquiry into its origin ; or, better still, as a post- 
humous tribute to their merits and worth, the name should be 
Whetzel's Creek.* But let us return to Sugar Creek ; it must 
not be passed so unceremoniously. It was very low in its waters, 
but they were the purest, the sweetest, the most limpid imagina- 
ble, and elicited an involuntary exclamation : " Oh how beau- 
tiful, how appropriate, the name Sugar Creek!" Who gave it 
the name, and for what reasons, I know not; but to me its quali- 
ties justified the name it bore. Every pebble at the bottom shone 
as if its colors were intensified as they gleamed like brilliants 
through its limpid waters. Huif's Mill, shortly to be, was at the 
crossing on the east side of Sugar Creek ; that is, the basement 
story was up ; but, at the urgent demand for bread, the proprietor 
was putting down the grinding machinery as the next step in its 
progress. When I returned on this same route about the middle 
of November afterward, the grinding was in full play on Sunday, 
with a temporary covering only. The great gulf is as yet an 
unsolved problem. It is a depression of two or three miles west 
of Sugar Creek, being three or four miles in length, and having 
the same direction and about the same capacity with the present 
valley of Sugar Creek. Whether that stream once occupied that 
basin, but was forced, by driftwood and the agency of the beavers, 
to cut another channel, might yet be determined by a careful 
examin.ition. Two small creeks entered at the north end, but 
soon lost their channels, and then mingled their waters and cov- 
ered the basin generally throughout the year. It sustained a 
growth of heavy timber of such kinds as would grow in it. It 
was, during long years after I first saw it, the home of bears, 
wolves, catamounts, panthers and other wild animals. A volume 
could be written of the exploits of two brothers named Hosier, 
who settled near its north border, and who. by traps, guns and 
dogs, made sad havoc of wolf cubs, catamounts and other game. 
A more dismal place I never saw, and, as we rode around it for 
six miles or more — an old woman and a boy — I trembled with 
fear. Added to the gloom of this dismal place, away to the 
northwest was an Indian encampment, making the most of their 
privilege to hunt here.f They seemed to be making a drive of the 

*And I now propose to the neighborhood around Wbetzers old camp to meet and organize 
an arrangement whereby each shall contribute a nigger-head on this location, that it may l)» 
preserved, and that they cause a suitable inscription to be made on a smooth stone, showing that 
Jacob aiid Cyrus Whetzel here erected the first habitation toward the ingress of civilization into 
Johnson County. F. H. 

fThis wag doubtless a Pottawatomie encampment on the land now owned by William 
Kinnick. — En. 



46 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

game to the southward, the direction we were traveling to Loper's, 
on Gamp Creek. The constant crack of the rifle, the crash of 
the brushwood caused by the troops of the flying, frightened deer 
as they rushed thundering on with branching horns and tails erect, 
widespread, grandly leaping high above the shrubbery, with heads 
and eyes averted as if to see the distant foe, and the Avidely scat- 
tered flock of wild turkeys as they sped on with long, outstretched 
necks, half on foot, half on wing, far as the eye could reach, was 
altogether a sight — one never to be forgotten by an old lady and 
■~^-b,oy unused to such a wild display. In our approach to Loper's 
Cabin,,at the camping grounds on Camp Creek, the wolf paths 
leading' to the encampment along the side of the road were as 
continuous and well beaten in the soft soil as hog paths about a 
farm, and great plantigrade foot prints over the muddy grounds 
showed that Bruin often quitted his secret hiding covert in the 
gulf and roamed abroad. Camp Creek afforded good Avater, and 
from the time the VVhetzels first erected their camp here until the 
trace cea.sed to be used as a highway, here was the emigrant's 
hotel. In the morning, as they moved on, the wolves entered to 
devour the dead animals and the garbage left in the encampment. 
Daniel Loper was a wild man. I could never learn whence 
he came, nor yet where he Avent when he left Johnson County. 
The first we knew of him was in October of 1820. Then he had 
erected a hut at the crossing of the Whetzel and Berry traces, on 
the northeast quarter of southeast quarter of Section 7, in Town- 
ship 13 north, and Range 4 east, lately owned by the Brackets. 
He kept a sort of entertainment there — that is, a man felt that he 
was not quite out of doors when he stayed in his cabin. 

Nathaniel Bell came from Ohio in 1821 along the Whetzel 
trace, destined for the Eel River country in search of some eligible 
situation for a home for himself and family. He rode on horse- 
back with a sack under him, in which he carried his provision. 
His horse carried a bell around his neck, which was kept silent by 
day, but when night came Bell made a camp, unloosed the bell, 
hobbled the horse, turned him out to graze, and then lay down to 
sleep. Bell, having explored the Eel River lands, and not liking 
them, returned and called at the cabin of John Doty, who had 
located a camp on the school section, near the center of the 
present White River Township, the 8th of May, 1821. Here he 
disclosed his purpose, and that was to get a description of the land 
at the crossing of the traces and enter them at Brookville on his 
way home, and then settle there and keep a tavern and build a 
horse-mill and a distillery for whisky. Applying to Peter Doty, 
son of John Doty, for aid in getting a description of the land, 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 47 

Peter agreed to furnish it for $1, but Bell declared he had no 
money beyond the sum necessary to enter the land. Finally, 
Peter agreed to accept the bell on the horse, and the desired 
information was thus obtained. Bell forthwith ordered Daniel 
Loper to leave his cabin, as the land was now his. Thus, under 
a threat of expulsion and a claim of ownership falsely made, 
Loper was driven out and retired to Whetzel's old camp, and 
there erected another hut and occupied it one or two years. Here 
Loper continued to reside for a time, and give such aid and lodg- 
ing as he could to emigrants. Loper, when he first came to the 
county, had a man living with him by the name of John Varner. 
Varner made several trips to White Water with an old wagon and 
a yoke of oxen belonging to Loper, and in exchange for the 
fruits of the chase received and brought back provisions, and 
occasionally a few gallons of bad whisky. Whether from the 
unhealthiness of Camp Creek, on the borders of the gulf, or other 
cause, John Varner took sick and suddenly died. By some 
means, Loper got word to John Doty to come and assist in his 
burial. John Doty and his son Peter responded at once, taking 
with them a shovel for digging the grave. When they arrived, 
Loper, despairing of assistance, had gone to work with a garden 
hoe, the only implement for digging he had, and with which he 
dug, throwing out the earth with his hands. The grave was soon 
ready. But there Avas no coffin, nothing except a large trough. 
Into this they put his body, and covered the trough with a rude 
slab split from a log, and thus was John Varner buried at Camp 
Creek. 

Thus we have endeavored to snatch from oblivion the history 
of the beginning, the introduction of civilization into Johnson 
County, and we date it back to the fall of the year of 1818, at 
Whetzel's camp on Camp Creek. We have shown how this camp 
was afterward changed to Loper's cabin, and known by that name 
for a distance of 100 miles. We have the strange burial here of 
the attache of Loper, perhaps in the year 1823. It may have 
been the first funeral in the north half of Johnson County. When 
John Varner died, Loper abandoned Whetzel's old camp and the 
cabin he and Varner had built, and left for parts unknown, leav- 
ing the bones of Varner to hold their silent vigils over the place, 
until the strange coffin was despoiled of the bones of the dead 
Varner in after years by some foolish young students of anatomy. 
After Loper left Camp Creek, the place continued to be known 
as the emigrants' hotel. During the tall season, the place at 
night was very seldom occupied. Several acres were trodden 
over by men and their animals, just as if a large army had en- 



48 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

camped upon its grounds. Loper's pole hut was still there, but 
uncovered. There were scattered about many inclosures built of 
poles and brush to restrain the movers' stock from wandering 
away during the night, and altogether it was a very public place. 

And now, having finished the history of the first point in the 
settlement of Johnson County, and the introduction of civilization, 
I propose before resuming my journey westward, that the people 
along this little creek shall, in justice to Jacob Whetzel, restore 
to it its original and rightful name. Camp Creek. Camp Creek 
has a history. The other name has not, and to perpetuate the 
name of the beginner of our present prosperity, let it be Whetzel's 
Camp Creek. 

Bidding adieu to Camp Creek with its strange associations and 
incidents, we continued on the Whetzel trace westward, meeting 
five or six men who were off for a bear hunt on the borders of the 
gulf. We were alarmed at the sight of these men as they ap- 
proached, thinking they were Indians. They were exceedingly 
rough, large men, with uncouth apparel, dressed in buckskin 
pants, bearskin caps, each with a large fire-lock on his shoulder, 
while six or eight great, ugly wolf-dogs were in company. These 
men were a party of Bell's, then a power in the land. They 
treated us kindly, and directed us in our travels. Seven miles 
from Camp Creek, in the midst of a dismal forest of trees, briars 
and brushwood, there broke suddenly on our view Bell's horse- 
mill and its surroundings. It was a quiet Sabbath evening, but 
the mill was in full clatter, with its unequaled humdrum pro- 
duced by its loose machinery. Twenty or thirty men stood 
around in clusters in friendly chat, and forty to fifty horses in 
working trim were hitched in every direction. The mill was far 
behind in its grinding, and was running night and day without 
halting for Sunday. The men were waiting for their several 
turns to grind, for the mill ground in the orders of their arrival, 
and if a man was absent when his turn came, the next succeeded 
to his right. The history of Nathaniel Bell and his mill and his 
clan of adherents around him, generally bold, bad men, would 
make a large volume. I shall therefore pass by him, for the pres- 
ent, at least. At this point, we left Whetzel's trace in a north- 
erly direction, and in a couple of hours found ourselves at the 
end of our journey in the midst of our near kindred, and so ends 
my first trip into and across Johnson County, nearly fifty-five 
years ago. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 49 



CHAPTER IX. 

CONTENDING FORCES. 

TOPOGRAPHICAL. 

Having thus briefly sketched the rise of the more prominent 
neighborhoods, and the growth of population during the early 
years of the county's history, we come now to a consideration of 
some of the obstacles which confronted the pioneer settlers of the 
county. Johnson County contains 320 square miles, and is a 
true parallelogram, being sixteen miles from east to west, and 
twenty from north to south. White River touches upon its 
northwest corner, cutting off" a fraction over one thousand acres, 
while Blue River touches upon the southeast corner, cutting off" a 
little over fourteen hundred acres. The general course of these 
rivers is to the southwest, and a glance at the map discloses 
the fact that the axial line of the water-shed between them 
begins a little west of the northeast corner of Pleasant Town- 
ship, and thence it runs in a southwesterly course to a point 
about two miles northwest of the southeast corner of White 
River Township, and thence south, with a meandering line, 
to the south boundary of the county. The county is thus divided 
into two unequal parts, the larger of which, being about two- 
thirds of the whole, is drained into Blue River, while the rain- 
fall from the other third runs off into White River. The county 
is generally quite level, and when the country was first known, 
and for many years after, the level lands were exceedingly wet 
and swampy. At Williamsburg, a range of low hills or broken 
land sweeps up from the South and then bears oft" westerly to the 
county line. The country, on either side of the South and Mid- 
dle Forks of Stott's Creek, for a short distance above the county 
line, is disfigured by hills and hollows. About one-twelfth of 
the entire county comes within the category of broken land, 
while the remaining eleven-twelfths ranges from a dead level, 
through an undulating, to a slightly rolling surface, and may be 
classed as level land. 

PHYSICAL CONDITION. 

The men and women who came here for the purpose of found- 
ing homes in the wilderness, found a country where Nature was 
arrayed against them in one of her most forbidding forms. Judge 
Franklin Harden, who was a contemporary of the scenes of 



50 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

which he writes, thus graphically describes the condition of the 
country in the beginning, and for many years after. 

" Tall trees covered the whole country with their wide-spread- 
ing branches, depending to the ground, and the shrubbery below 
arose and united with the branches of the trees. Huge grape- 
vines, scorning to associate with the humble shrubs, like great 
serpents ascended and festooned the trees to the topmost branches, 
and thence, spreading in every direction, crept from tree to tree, 
tying and uniting the tops of a dozen together into an undis- 
tinguishable net- work of vegetation, as if for defense against the 
omnipotent force of the cyclone. Here grass and tallest trees, 



For 



' ' ' Impenetrable 
To star or sunlight, spread their umbrage broad 
And brown as evening; ' 

" ' — nature here 
Wantoned as in her prime, and played at will 
Her virgin fancies, pouring forth more strength 
Wild above rule or art.' 

•' In the open spaces, in the valleys, grew either prickly-ash or 
nettles, both equally armed with sharp, fiery prickles. The net- 
tles grew so thick, and were so terrible in the burning pain 
inflicted, that the wounded wild deer in its flight from the hounds 
of the hunter, although in search of a covert, would never enter. 
It was often necessary to cover the horses' legs while plowing 
fresh lands to prevent contact with the nettles. The soil, after a 
heavy rain, seemed to be afloat, and a deer, in its escape from the 
hunter, left so conspicuous a trail that he could be as readily fol- 
lowed as in the snow. Where the spice-wood did not grow too 
thickly, male fern formed a solid mass three feet in depth, cover- 
ing logs and pitfalls so completely that the unwary walker often 
found himself thrown on his head beyond the obstruction. The 
dry lands along the creeks and rivers were first brought into cul- 
tivation. The highest lands were often table-lands, and the wet- 
test. One-half of Johnson County was of this character. Here, 
long sloughs extended over the country for miles, choked with 
brush and logs, and often without any outlet, and seemed to be, 
as no doubt they were, sections of extinct rivers, many of them 
a half a mile in width, and, in the rainy season, except for fallen 
logs, might have been navigated for long distances. In passing 
over these wet lands m the rainy season, but little dry land 
would appear, except an occasional dry spot like an islet, with its 
crest lowly bowed as if in dread of submergence. If any attempt 
was made to cultivate these wet lands, by deadening the timber. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 51 

and also opening the drains, nothing was produced. The crop 
was drowned by the percolation and infiltration of water from the 
adjoining wet lands. It was, therefore, indispensably necessary 
that large bodies should be brought into cultivation at once. And 
so it was that for miles in extent, the lands were deadened and 
exposed to the action of the sun. The ground thus became drier 
and caused contraction on the roots of shrubbery, which had 
grown in a loose, wet soil, by which the whole died together. A 
man traveling through the woods on horseback could be heard a 
half-mile away crashing the brush and mowing a road for him- 
self and horse. When the trees and shrubbery died, the whole 
ground was soon covered with fallen trees and brush. The wild 
weeds and grass now took possession of the ground and covered 
it also. During a dry time, two or three men might, by merely 
sowing the deadening over with fire, burn up the whole superin- 
cumbent covering over eight or ten acres in a single day. The 
sloughs, which abounded, and which, except for obstructions by 
fallen timber, might have been navigated by small crafts for 
miles, were thus soon opened, and the drainage further assisted 
by tiling, till the whole country, in an incredibly short time, was 
brought into cultivation." 

CONDITION OF THE ROADS. 

Into this wilderness, the first comers were compelled to work 
their way as best they could, but in time, roads were opened out 
by public or private enterprise, so that movers could come in 
without obstruction safe from the mud and swollen streams. For 
many years the Indianapolis lawyers who traveled the circuit, 
■consumed an entire day in coming from Indianapolis to Franklin 
to attend the spring term of court; and it was for a long time 
considered a hard day's journey, for a resident of the Smock 
neighborhood to ride on horseback to Indianapolis and return. 
George Kerlin moved to the county in the month of September, 
1831, and so muddy were the roads at that season, that his 
wagons were frequently mired to the axles. Every old resident 
can call to mind the rails and poles lying in the vicinity of the 
deeper mud holes, and which had been used as levers to raise 
wheels from the mire. Efforts were made, as the country be- 
came older, to make the roads better. Rails, poles and not 
infrequently round logs were used in "cross-laying" the roads 
at the worst places ; but when we remember the sparsity of pop- 
ulation and that road districts were necessarily large, it must be 
evident that not much more could be done than keep the deepest 
mud holes passable and the roads clear of fallen timber. 



52 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

Many of the first settlers were too poor to come to the country 
in wagons, but packed through on horses. Christopher Ladd, as 
we have seen, brought his household stuff on a sled. When John 
S. Miller came up from Jennings County, to mark the spot of his 
future home previous to his bringing his wife, he carried out a 
lot of peach trees on a log-sled. When George Bridges came, he 
fetched a load of household stuff on a wooden truck -wagon. But 
enough examples might be produced indefinitely, showing the 
straits to which the pioneers were put in getting to their destina- 
tions. But come as they would, bad roads, from mud and water, 
or other causes, ever awaited them. Mrs. Catharine Hardin 
moved to the county in 1827, and the following lively sketch 
from the pen of Judge Franklin Hardin, her son, tells the story 
of the difficulties which met them on the way : 

"In the year 1827, the same widow and her boy, now two 
years older than when they stopped overnight with the hospita- 
able Morgan, together with two older brothers and a sister, con- 
stituting a family, left Nicholas County, Ky., with the purpose 
of making Johnson County, Ind., their permanent home, to 
which a large part of the original family had emigrated three 
years before. When the emigrants arrived at Shelbyville, they 
were compelled to choose whether they would there take the road 
to Indianapolis and then down the Bluff road, or take the road 
by way of Franklin, and the Madison and Indianapolis State 
road as far north as to Whetzel's old trace, and thence west by 
Bell's. The Whetzel trace across Johnson County, was now im- 
passable by reason of the fallen timber across its route, killed by 
the emigrant wagons and teams of former years, bruising and 
cutting the roots. Whetzel's trace from Loper's cabin, at Camp 
Creek, to the Madison and Indianapolis State road, ceased to be 
traveled in the year 1826, being superseded by other roads and 
on account of fallen timber across it. It was never laid out by 
lawful authority and was never repaired. The road by way of 
Franklin was chosen, and, the weather being pleasant, the wagon 
rolled merrily down Blue River to the point where the road crossed 
that stream. It was late in the evening, when a terrible rain- 
storm came on. Not far from the river, in the edge of a corn- 
field, stood a deserted cabift; possession of it was taken, and 
preparation made to spend the night there. The roof of boards 
was mostly gone, but still enough remained to afford partial pro- 
tection. During the whole night the rain continued to pour 
down unceasingly. When the morning broke, an active move 
was made for Sugar Creek, thinking it might yet be possible to 
ford it. Blue River was in our rear, pouring down its angry 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OP JOHNSON COUNTY. 5^ 

waters, and Sugar Creek in front, whose condition was unknown. 
The road ran by the dwelling of John Webb, on the Shelby side 
of the line. When Sugar Creek was reached, its angry waters 
were foaming along, dashing out over the low grounds and filling 
up the bayous. It was the first rise after the summer and fall were 
gone. The trees had ah*eady cast their leaves and had colored 
the water a dark red brown. To add to our troubles the winds 
turned and blew from the northwest, bringing some snow. To 
advance or retreat was equally impossible; we were in the midst 
of the waters and surrounded. A few stakes were hastily driven 
in the ground and bedclothes nailed to them, so as to inclose a 
space ten feet in diameter, and a fire built in the circle, thus 
securing a comfortable place. An elder brother was along, a 
man of shifts and expedients, who had already resided in the 
county for three years, and who had often swam its creeks and 
rivers. He sent back for an auger,' to Mr. Webb, who kindly 
lent us the largest he had, three-fourths of an inch in diameter, 
and also the loan of a little unsteady water-craft, a mere trough, 
which would carry three men only at a time, by one or two lying 
flat on its bottom as ballast. There stood on the bank of the 
stream a tall hackberry tree, dead and recently stripped of its 
bark by woodcocks in search of worms. In a few minutes it was 
cut down, falling along the shore, and was soon cut up into sec- 
tions of twelve or fourteen feet. These were placed side by side, 
and poles laid athwart them and pinned fast by boring through 
the poles and into the logs. Thus a raft was constructed in an 
hour suflicient for our purpose. 'Willis,' said Mr. Webb, to 
his son, on his return from watching our motions, 'what are 
those people doing at the creek?' 'Well,' said Willis, 'they are 
going to cross the creek on a log raft.' 'Nonsense,' said the old 
gentleman, 'it can't be done.' The wagon was unloaded in a 
trice, and itself pulled to pieces. Then piling on the raft all it 
would buoy up, two or three hundred feet of bed-cords was at- 
tached to the raft, and two men mounted it armed with ten-foot 
poles. The canoe led the way up the shore with the men and 
poles forcing it along, then resting against the shore the boat 
passed over, and now, when across, the work began in earnest. 
The ropes were pulled over, the poles were plied also, and the 
trip was soon made, and again and again repeated until all were 
over. The cattle and horses were forced in and swam over. 
There were some sixty head of sheep to be gotten across some 
way; they were more troublesome than the rafting. We tried 
to get them to swim ; we forced them into the stream, but they 
would return always to the same side. Finally a happy thought 



54 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

came to our relief. The little craft was brought forth, and two 
sheep laid flat in the bottom and then we crossed and secured 
them on the opposite bank. Now began on both sides the most 
appealing bl eatings. A little force was all that was necessary to 
make the flock take to the water and swim over. The wagon was 
soon reloaded and hastily driven westward, while the angry creek 
was at our heels. On the first high ground, a quarter of a mile 
east of William Needham's and George Hunt's cross-road, we 
made our camp for the night. The roads henceforward exceed 
belief, the wagon often sinking to the hubs all the way to Frank- 
lin, where the streets were no better. At one and a half miles 
north of Franklin, a deserted hut was occupied for the night. 
At Franklin the writer mounted a horse, and struck out for White 
River Township for assistance, by way of the Indianapolis State 
road. There was scarcely a dry spot of ground on the whole 
route. At a small stream near David Trout's, ordinarily dry, 
the water was mid-rib to a horse, and other small streams crossed 
equally deep. Leaving the State road when Whetzel's old trace 
was reached, a long valley, lying north and south in its length, 
was crossed near William Law's, a quarter of a mile in width, 
and which doubtless is a section of some extinct river. The 
water could scarcely be crossed without swimming. A faithful 
dog had left the wagon and followed; he had crossed so many 
streams and ponds by swimming, that here he could swim no 
more, and, getting in a dry position, refused to go further. Aft- 
er riding some distance to try him the writer returned and drag- 
ging the dog across the pommel of the saddle, carried him to a 
safe landing beyond. A few hours' riding over drier land brought 
the end of the journey. Next morning, assistance went in haste 
to the aid of the family." 

CLEARING THE LAND. 

And when the mover had reached his destination and his cabin 
was built, the hardships had only begun. Men had to live; food 
and clothing for themselves and families had to be found some- 
how, and the only sure source of supply was to fell the timber 
and till the soil. The first year or so, the Blue River and Nin- 
eveh inhabitants carried corn meal from Washington County and 
from the White Water country, while the White River people 
found a supply at Conner's Prairie, in Hamilton County, or at 
Connersville, in Fayette. With fire, ax and maul, the men went 
into the woods and the work of destruction was begun. The wri- 
ter can remember when, of a still morning in the early spring 
days, the sound of the ax and of the maul was heard from every 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTV. 55 

quarter of the compass, while the crash of falling timber was ever 
in the air. The trees were felled and cut into suitable lengths, 
and the green logs often lay so thickly upon a new field, that one 
could walk all over it by stepping from log to log. With great 
expenditure of muscular efibrt these logs were rolled into heaps, 
and were then consumed by fire. We of to-day can form no 
adequate idea of the toil and weariness that log-rolling and 
log-burning brought to the first settlers. It was the custom for 
men whose logs had been rolled and fired, to " right up " their 
burning heaps before daylight, and, after a hasty breakfast, reach 
the place appointed for their day's work by sun-up, and, after 
laboring with a handspike until sunset, then go home and "right 
up " their own burning-heaps until ten or eleven o'clock at night. 
This was the manner of the laborious lives of the pioneers for 
many years after the county was first settled, and from fifteen to 
thirty days' log-rolling was the lot of every able-bodied man during 
the spring season. 

But sometimes men were so pressed for time and help as to 
be unable to roll and burn the logs. Not uncommonly did they 
clear away the underbrush and the logs, and, after burning the 
green trees to kill the foliage, plant their corn and raise their 
crops. But not all could do even this much. In raising his first 
crop of corn, Simon Covert managed to pile and burn the brush, 
but planted among the logs. Serrill Winchester, of Union 
Township, felled his trees into windrows, and planted in the open 
spaces between. Andrew Pierce, of White River Township, 
planted with the hoe amid the logs, and tilled his corn with the 
same implement. 

SQUIRRELS. 

Discouraging as clearing the early fields must have been to the 
husbandman, and severe the toil of planting and tilling, yet when 
the corn was raised it was with the utmost difficulty that the 
farmer could reap the benefit of his crop. The squirrels swarmed 
in the woods, and, while not so numerous, the raccoons were, 
nevertheless, very destructive. " Among the four families living 
in White River Township in the year 1821, not a single bushel of 
corn was saved from the squirrels and raccoons."* 

In 1821, George Barnett bought a four-acre field of corn in 
the shock. " I helped remove the fodder," says Ambrose Bar- 
nett, his son, " and I was the lucky one. I found one little ear 
of corn. So close had been the scrutiny of the gray squirrels 
that they had overlooked but one ear in the four acres." John 
Harter stored a few bushels of corn in the "loft" of his cabin, 

*Ju(lge Hardin. D 



56 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

but the squrrels found it out, and, ere lie was aware, carried off' 
the last ear. John Smiley had a four-acre field of corn just 
ripened, when it was invaded by the rodents, and, in two days, 
every ear was eaten or carried away. It was quite common for 
the farmers to hire squirrel hunters to kill off" the squirrels found 
in and about their fields. Mrs. Gertrude Farmer remembers 
when it was her work to patrol the corn-field, with the rifle upon 
her shoulder ; and children with dogs and hurdy-gurdys were 
kept in and about the fields from morning till night during the 
troublesome seasons. 

INSECT LIFE. 

Nor must we forget the insects that were here to annoy. " Flies, 
gnats and musquitoes," says Judge Hardin, "were everywhere, 
in the fields and in the woods, and in the houses. There were times 
when no horse could stand an attack of flies. The plowing was 
performed during a few hours of the early morning, and the 
horse hastily driven to the stable. At night he was turned out 
to the wild woods to seek his living on wild grass and wild pea- 
vines, everywhere abundant. Many settlers kept up a fire through 
the summer near at hand, that their animals might protect them- 
selves by standing in the smoke. Before retiring at night, it was 
the practice to produce smoke in the dwelling-house in order to 
drive out the mosquitoes and gnats from the bedrooms ; then, by 
closing the doors, prevent their further ingress." 

AVILD ANIMALS. 

A recital of the obstacles that lay in the way of the pioneers 
would be incomplete which failed to make mention of the injury 
done by wild animals. The visitations from the squirrels have 
been referred to, and it remains to be added that, by reason of 
the wolves, the rearing of sheep was for many years next to 
impossible. And when it is borne in mind that home-made 
clothing was universally worn, the importance of the wool crop at 
that age is apparent. Notwithstanding, the utmost diligence was 
used in protecting the flocks in pens by night, yet the destruction 
went on, and the loss from this source alone to the early settlers 
brought discouragement and privation. The wolves were de- 
structive also to the young pigs, but the sows soon learned to feed 
in bands, and, when the wolf came, bunching their offspring, they 
surrounded them, and standing, snouts outward, would, in general, 
successfully ward off" the attack. So great an enemy of the pio- 
neer was the wolf esteemed, that laws were made encouraging his 
destruction, and, up to the year 1840, and even later, allowances 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 57 

were made out of the county treasury for wolf-scalps. In 1835, 
Jacob Hozier was allowed $2.50 for five scalps under six months 
old, and the next year James Williams was allowed for six. 

SNAKES. 

Nor must we fail to take note of the great abundance of rattle- 
snakes that crawled, hissed and rattled in every thicket. Two 
species of these reptiles — the black rattlesnake, short, thick, and, 
by no means, inactive, and the yellow rattlesnake, growing from 
six to eight feet long and quite sluggish — were along the brakes 
of the creeks and in all the dry lands. Thomas Barnett, who 
came to the Blue River neighborhood in 1821 and raised a crop, 
lived until in June in a camp walled up on three sides and open 
on the fourth. But so many rattlesnakes were found crawling in 
the brush and about his camp that he abandoned it sooner than he 
otherwise would have done and returned to his family, then living 
in Jennings County. 

The small caves so often found in the vicinity of springs in the 
early day were a favorite resort of the reptiles. At a spring that 
flowed from the hill on the Nineveh, '' twenty or twenty-five" 
rattlesnakes came out in the spring season of one of the first 
years after the settlement was started, and were killed. One of 
these was found in the path by two women, who called Robert 
Moore to their assistance, and, on killing it, he plucked as a 
trophy twenty-two rattles from its tail. 

Samuel Owens, who settled on Sugar Creek, built his cabin 
hard by a spring. Several rattlesnakes had been killed in the 
vicinity of his cabin, and finally he surmised that the fountain 
had hollowed the ground underneath, and that the hollow was 
now a snake den. Not long after, he and his wife had been to a 
neighbor's and returned to their home after nightfall. On open- 
ing the cabin door, a large rattlesnake coiled on the cabin floor 
sounded the alarm, and Owens was compelled to make a torch, by 
the light of which he ventured in and killed the intruder. The 
next morning he called to his assistance his neighbor, Thomas 
Needham, and, on digging into the spring cave, a den of snakes 
was found, and eight of the very largest kind were taken out and 
killed. Few, if any, rattlesnakes are remembered to have been 
seen in the neighborhood ever after. 

On the " Doty hill," in White River Township, snakes were 
numerous. John Doty lived in a tent for some time after he 
settled on that hill, and his family were much annoyed with the 
snakes. They stretched themselves across the paths, and one 
day while the family were eating their meal, a huge monster 



58 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

crawled into their tent. More than thirty were killed the first 
year by Doty and his family. 

Peter Vaudiver found them numerous in his neighborhood. 
One day he felled a large poplar and then went to his dinner. 
On returning, four large ones had crawled out of a hollow in the 
stump and lay about in coils. One of his sons drew one of the 
largest to the house after it was dead to show to his mother. The 
next morning, two large ones were found coiled in the door-yard. 
They had followed the trail, as was supposed, of their dead mate. 

It has been said that after the larger variety of rattlesnakes 
began to disappear, the smaller became more numerous, and per- 
haps this is true. Nathan Perry says that he killed eight black 
rattlesnakes in one day, while passing over and about his father's 
clearing in the northwest corner of Ninevah Township. 

But rattlesnakes had their enemies. No man ever met with 
one without making an effort to kill it. Deer are said to have 
killed them on occasions, and to the hog the rattlesnake was a 
dainty morsel of food. In a few years, all were gone. And 
notwithstanding their great numbers, the writer has heard of but 
two instances of persons being bitten by them in the county, 
neither of whom received a serious injury. 

SICKNESS. 

Probably the most serious obstacle in the way of the first set- 
tlers was the great sickness that prevailed during the early years 
here as well as elsewhere throughout the West. Quoting again 
from Judge Hardin : 

"Whatever was the producing cause, whether animal cular or 
microscopic vegetation or some other subtile poison of yet undis- 
covered chemical combination in the kingdom of affinities, I know 
not, for I write only of what I saw, and leave to others better in- 
formed to find and explain that which I know not. From 1832 
to 1836, I saw the trees over one-half of Johnson County dying 
in consequence of having been girdled, and the hot sun, which 
for ages had been shut out, now shining fiercely on the bare 
ground, on pools, ponds and morasses, which by evaporation were 
soon dried up, and left their depressions full of dead and putrid 
animals and animalculse. The desiccation of the ground con- 
tracted it upon the rootlets of the shrubbery and grasses which 
had grown in the shade and in a loose and humid soil, and this 
brought death to them also, so that the spicewood throughout the 
country disappeared everywhere in two years. The entrance of 
the sun into the openings in the forests deranged the equilibrium 
of the atmospheric temperature, and thereby produced a general 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 59 

and free circulation by which the unbroken forest was also 
brought into a similar condition, and thus a new and permanent 
feature of atmospheric action was established. 

" One thing I know, that under the baleful influence of this 
change for many years to come, Death numbered his victims by 
hundreds. The land was filled with mourning, and the grave- 
yards filled with the pioneer dead. Many persons seemed to die 
from pure stagnation of blood in the veins. The doctors, by fol- 
lowing the old system, only accelerated the crisis. Active stimu- 
lants only were found to be suitable. A quart of whisky in a 
night, with large doses of quinine, once more restored life and 
mobility to the blood and saved the patient. From the 1st of 
August to the 1st of October in each year, no business requiring 
labor was set apart to be performed. Sickness was the rule, and 
business was dispatched, medicines provided and preparations 
made to meet the sickly season. After this was over, in any 
assemblage, one-half the members at least wore pale faces. This 
was the age of quackery and quack medicines. After the qui- 
nine in the shops was used up, which was often the case before 
half the sickly season was over, the people had no remedy except 
in the use of boneset and gentian. The sick, therefore, readily 
fell in with any promised relief. Sappington's pills and others 
with big names heralded by a long list of curative virtues found 
a ready sale. Against the walls of every cabin, suspended from 
nails, hung two or three dozen small bottles already emptied of 
their contents, but with little, if any, realization to the sick of 
the promised benefit. A cart-load could have been gathered in a 
day, and such a collection would present to our children now an 
interesting and strange display of old curiosities, and form a long 
catalogue of quack nostrums." 




60 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 



CHAPTER X. 

LIFE IN THE WOODS. 
TOILING. 
Not every man who moved into Johnson County aspiring to 
become a pioneer, gained the pioneer's meed of praise. There 
were not a few who came in the early days, with high hopes that 
they had reached their promised land, but found the conflict too 
severe, and soon retired vanquished from the field. Those Avho 
were made of sterner stuff, or too poor to get away, generally 
fought the battle with a courage and tenacity of purpose that 
gave them victory in the end. Save what has been set down of 
the hindrances that nature laid in the pathway of the pioneers — 
the woods, the wild beasts, the sickness and so on — and it requires 
no wearisome length of words to give a hint of the incessant toil- 
ing of the period. There were no drones in those days. True, 
there were some, as there always are upon the frontier, who loved 
the gun and the woods too Avell to be slaves to field-work, but 
even these did not eat at the expense of their neighbors. With 
but few exceptions, all were toilers — men, women and little chil- 
dren. Farms had to be and were cleared out, and houses and 
barns built, and all the work of time, stroke upon stroke. And 
while this work was slowly but surely going on, men, women and 
children must have food and clothes. There were but few idlers 
in those days, for men could not afibrd to be idle. We may 
catch a glimpse of the lives men led in the log-rolling season — up 
in the morning and busy among their own burning-heaps by cock- 
crowing, and off to a distant neighbor's, often four or five miles 
away, by sun-up, and then with handspike put forth such mus- 
cular effort and strength among the green logs, as happily labor- 
ers are seldom called upon to give nowadays, and at sunset off for 
home, where the smoldering heaps must again be stirred together 
before the wearied man could find rest in sleep. And it was 
not for one day, or two, or three, but for weeks this wearisome 
work went on. James Ware testifies to having rolled logs for 
thirty days in one spring when a young man. Henry Mussul- 
man put in "about thirty days," and "burnt his own brush and 
logs after night." Peter Vandiver rolled logs "from twenty to 
twenty-five days every year, and went from one to five miles." 
Theodore List rolled logs one year twenty-four days for his neigh- 
bors, and they in turn helped him to roll the logs on nine acres, 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 61 

and they were four days about it. Melvin Wheat attended 
twenty-two log-rollings one year, six of which was for one man. 
Samuel Herriott attended thirty-six log-rollings one spring, but 
as he was a local politician, he went oftener most likely than he 
otherwise would have done. But the common lot of all for many 
years after the first settlements were made was to spend many 
days in the spring season with the handspike at log-rollings, 
while at the same time their own heaps, if rolled, were to be 
burned and the "trash " to be " picked." 

Nor was it only the logs in the fields that called forth the com- 
bined muscular effort of the community. Cabins and stables 
must be built, and the former, often of large logs hewn to an 
even thickness, and all of green timber, were no holiday jobs to 
raise. All stood in need at one time or other of their neighbors' 
services, and all freely gave when called upon. Nor was there 
an enumeration by any of time served. A man's logs must be 
rolled, no matter how many days it took, and when the last 
" heaps " in the neighborhood had been made, accounts were con- 
sidered square all around. And so of other work requiring the 
strength of many arms. 

The log-rollings and the house-raisings must not be considered, 
however, as unmixed evils. They bred sentiments of generosity 
and brought a degree of social life that worked for good. Men 
could nor habituate themselves to giving and receiving such nec- 
essary and hard services in unequal degrees, without a growth of 
generous feeling ; and they could not toil together without foster- 
ing the social instincts. Still everything was kept subordinate to 
the business in hand. Individuals could laugh and talk to their 
hearts' content, but the community frowned upon any practice 
calculated to delay the work in hand. All quarreling was sup- 
pressed, fighting was prohibited and the use of ardent spirits, 
then so common, was so regulated that the drunkenness of the in- 
temperate could not delay the work in hand. Even the inclem- 
ency of the weather sometimes failed to put an end to combined 
labor. When the neighbors from Franklin and round about had 
gone out to put up the cabin of Simon Covert near the Big 
Spring, a steady rain sat in long before noon. Then the house- 
builders wavered, but Samuel Hcmott cried out, " Men ! this 
man's house must be raised I" and in spite of the rain, the house 
was up and half- roofed by sun-down. Nor was it only at the log- 
rollings and house-raisings that the men pursued their labors with 
diligence. The same scenes marked the conduct of those who 
cut out and worked the first roads. But few have a thought at 
this time of the labor incident to that service. " Ten or a dozen " 



62 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

men, in 1830, consumed seven days in cutting out the Needham 
road leading from Sugar Creek to Franklin. 

And let it not be thought that the men alone were servants to 
toil. The wives and the mothers bore their full share. Many of 
the older fields in Johnson County, as well as elsewhere in Indi- 
ana, the daughters and ofttimes the wives, helped to clear. But 
if not in the fields, they were in and about their cabins, busy 
from morning to night, and often far into the night. Green grow 
the memory of the mothers of Johnson County I The fathers de- 
serve much, the mothers more. They dyed the wool with the 
walnut ooze ; they carded it into rolls ; they spun it into yarn ; 
and wove the web of durable jeans. Often they pulled the flax, 
not unfrequently scutched it, always hackled, spun and wove it 
into linen cloth. The entire family would be clothed in garments 
spun, wove, cut and made by the mothers of these days. And 
what man or woman now living, who can span in memory a period 
of fifty years, who does not remember the mother of the house, 
sitting up making new or patching the frayed clothes of her chil- 
dren long after the other members of the household were sunk in 
slumber. Blessed be the memory of the dear, old, patient moth- 
ers of the land ! 

SOCIAL LIFE. 

But, with all the toil and hardships of the times, there was a 
social life, the memory of which still survives. The labors of the 
day fostered sociability. Men worked together. They joined 
forces at corn-planting time, and old and young dropped and cov- 
ered the grain side by side. At the harvest, reapers, cradlers and 
binders, marched in phalanx across the fields. And when the 
winter days came, the evening fires from the huge fire-places sent 
out a genial, wholesome heat, unknown to the patrons of the mod- 
ern stove. There were but few books to read in those days, and 
fewer newspapers and periodicals, and so brothers and sisters, and 
husbands and wives, as well as neighbors, loved to gather about 
the firesides and while away the long winter evenings in social 
converse. The weddings of the time were generally social events 
of great significance. Nowland, in his "Early Reminiscences of 
Indianapolis," gives an instance in that town where the dancing 
was kept up for two days and nights after the wedding, but it is 
not believed that any party of merry-makers in Johnson County 
ever went to such an extravagant limit as that. Much, hoAvever, 
was often made of the wedding occasion here. The young friends 
of both bride and groom were usually invited, and, not unfre- 
quently, many of the older members of the settlement, and there 
was always much feasting and merry-making. The second or 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 63 

third day after the marriage, it was common for the parents or 
other friends of the groom to make an " infair," when the festiv- 
ities would be renewed. In the south settlements, the custom of 
"running for the bottle," was kept up, on infair occasions, until 
1837, when it fell into disuse. As practiced here, the custom 
was for the groom's father, or some one representing him, to take 
his place at the yard gate with a bottle of whisky, and await the 
cavalcade of visitors, who, for the purpose, had rendezvoused at an 
appointed place. When in sight of the bottle-holder, the young 
men of the party who cared to ride for the bottle, took their 
places in front, and at a given signal, away they went, helter- 
skelter, and the fastest rider was entitled to the prize. On 
receiving it, he drank to the bride and groom, and then rode back 
in triumph to his friends, treating each in turn who chose to 
drink from the bottle, and custom made the dram an honorable 
one. It is remembered that Jesse Young, an Elder in the Pres- 
byterian Church, on the occasion of the marriage of his son John, 
held the bottle for the rough riders of the party. This custom 
was in vogue up to 1837, when a young man by the name of 
Bright Walker was thrown from his horse and killed, and then it 
dropped into disuse. 

The quiltings, the wood-choppings, the rail-makings, the corn- 
huskings of the early period, all testify to the social spirit that 
everywhere prevailed. 

THE CHASE. 

To some the case brought in its season lasting delight, while 
to all, the game of the woods was a never-failing source of food 
supply. The Johnson County lands had long been a favorite 
hunting-ground of the Indians, and, for many years after the 
white people came, the woods were stocked with game and the 
streams with fish. Joab Woodruff is said to have killed three 
hundred and seventy deer in the fall of 1822, and it is told that 
George Doty killed three hundred in 1821 and 1822. Nathan 
Perry says he has frequently seen as many as forty in one herd. 
William Burkhart found Bock Lick, in Union Township, by pur- 
suing a well-beaten path known as a runway, leading to it from a 
distance of seven miles. Isaac Collier shot thirteen deer one 
morning before breakfast at Collier's Lick in the edge of Brown 
County. In 1834, Henry Mussulman started a herd of deer in 
the vicinity of Franklin, and followed them nearly to Indianapolis, 
and then back, where he shot and killed six of them. Judge 
Hardin counted twenty-five in one herd in a White River bend. 

Venison was plenty, and the pioneer was an unskillful 
woodsman, indeed, who could not keep his table supplied in the 



■64 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

fall and winter seasons for the first few years. William Ruther- 
ford knocked a deer in the head with an ax as it ran by where he 
was chopping in the woods. One Sunday morning, Isaac Voris 
was sitting on the bank of Young's Creek, immediately south of 
Judge Woollen's present residence. Hearing the bark of a dog 
up the creek, he saw a deer running in the distance toward him, 
but on the farther side of the stream. Keeping quiet, the deer 
came down to a point opposite and plunged in, but the current 
was strong and bore the animal down against a log, when Voris 
rushed in and secured it by the ears. 

Wild turkeys were more abundant than deer. Wherever there 
was food for them they were easily found. Their '■'■ keouh " was 
a familiar sound to the inmates of every cabin. In the spring of 
1823, it is said that a flock passed over the ground where Frank- 
lin has built, and it was large enough to make a beaten trail a 
hundred yards in width. They often did much mischief, scratch- 
ing up the newly planted corn, eating it after it was grown, and 
treading down the smaller grain after it was harvested. 

Men, who bring a wilderness, inhabited by wild and savage 
beasts, to civilization, never lack in romantic incident with which 
to add flavor to the tales of old age. There are but few, indeed, 
who do not listen to old hunters' yarns with a patience that 
"spurs to greater effort." But no man ever came to his death 
in the county by the attack of a wild beast, so far as I know. Lewis 
Hendricks had his arm disabled for life in an encounter with a 
wounded bear, but that happened in Shelby County. There was, 
nevertheless, danger to the hunter. Samuel and Robert Bell 
were lying in wait for deer at a salt marsh, near the head- waters 
of Honey Creek. It was about dusk in the evening, and presently 
Samuel's attention was directed to an object crawling toward his 
brother, who was several yards distant. It proved to be a large 
panther. Samuel could see the nervous, cat-like motion of its 
tail, and also that his brother was unconscious of its presence. 
With a cool head and a steady nerve, he took deliberate aim and 
shot the beast dead. But there were not many panthers in the 
woods. The black bear, however, was quite plentiful. Joab 
Woodruff" killed ten in one year, and there were many others who 
killed this noble game. No man, however, was ever brought to 
a strait by a bear in this county. But the deer hunters some- 
times got into trouble. John Smiley once knocked one over, and 
on going to it, it arose to meet him with " hair turned the wrong 
way." Smiley sprang behind a bush and the beast made a push 
at him with lowered antlers. Laying hold of a horn in either 
hand. Smiley held on for dear life, while the bush kept the beats 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 65 

off. Round and round both went, until wearied with the fruitless 
contest the buck smoothed his hair, a sign that his fight was over. 
Then Smiley loosed his hold, and the deer marched oft' undis- 
turbed. Joseph Young, of Union Township, knocked a buck 
down one day, and, on touching its throat with his knife, it came 
to its feet ready for battle. Young got behind a tree, and man- 
aged by hook and by crook to keep the tree between himself and 
the animal, until its rage had abated somewhat, when it gave its 
antlers a toss and disappeared in the thicket. Henry Mussulman 
was more severely put to the struggle by a wounded deer on one 
occasion. He had shot it to death, as he supposed, but with the 
first touch of the knife the animal floundered, and Mussulman 
lost the blade. The buck was large and strong, but the hunter 
had his head to the ground, and, as long as he could keep it there, 
he was safe, and so he held on. But this was not killing the 
deer, and it was unsafe to let go, and so in his extremity, Mus- 
sulman, with the jagged ends of broken spicewood, put the animal's 
eyes out, and then let go and run. It was the work of a moment 
to get his gun and shoot it dead. To inexperienced men there 
would have been not only danger, but, no doubt, disaster ; but 
to the pioneers of the country where there was danger, there was 
rarely disaster. Still the very fact that there was an element of 
•danger, gave a charm to the sport, and there are but few who do 
not appreciate the main recital of it. 

TURBULENCE. 

The inquirer after the facts of the past is constantly reminded 
of the exhibition of lawlessness on the part of some at the begin- 
ning, and for many years after the county was organized. This 
'arose, in a great measure, from the sentiment of personal inde- 
pendence that burned in every bosom, for there were but few of 
the pioneer settlers who were not ready on occasion to vindicate 
their own wrongs. Batteries and affrays furnished the Circuit 
Courts of the county with a large part of their work for many 
years. For a period of seven years after the county was organ- 
ized, the number of cases on the Circuit Court dockets, repre- 
senting batteries and affrays, stood as two to five against all 
other causes, criminal and civil. 

RELIGIOUS. 

But it must not be supposed that the reckless element in society 
had it all their own way. The courts were actively at work from 
the beginning, and the church came into the wilderness with the 
first comers. John P. Barnett, who came to the county in 1821, 



66 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

was a Baptist preacher; and when he got here he found that 
Joseph Bishop, who had preceded him, was of the like faith with 
himself Others followed, and, in 1823, a Baptist Church was 
planted in Blue River Township. Early in the history of Nine- 
vah Township, a Baptist Church, under the preaching of Mor- 
decai Cole, was organized at the house of Daniel Mussulman ; 
and when Richardson Hensley moved into Hensley Township, he 
carried with him a Baptist faith, and a Baptist Church was soon 
planted on Indian Creek. 

In 1823, the Rev. James Scott, an itinerant Methodist 
minister, a young man of unbounded zeal, unlearned in the 
books but clear headed, with horse and saddle-bags, Bible and 
hymn book, made his way to the settlements on White River 
and began the work of the ministry. He preached the first ser- 
mon ever uttered in White River Township, standing in the door- 
way of a cabin built near the bluffs, with the females of his con- 
gregation seated within, and the males lounging upon the earth 
or leaning against trees without. For many years he visited this 
place, and by his hand Avas planted the parent Methodist Church 
of the county. 

In the fall of 1823, a Presbyterian clergyman, whose name 
has been lost, came to the house of David McCaslin, near Frank- 
lin, and stopped over for the night. Word was sent out to the 
few settlers' cabins in the vicinity, that he would preach that 
evening, and when the hour came, a little congregation was there 
to hear. Seated at the fireside, the stranger preached the first 
sermon heard in that township. The first settlers of Franklin 
were generally Presbyterians, and, in November, 1824, the 
Presbyterian Church of that place was founded, and, in 1831, 
Hopewell Church was established. 

In 1823, the first settlement was made in Pleasant Township, 
and, soon after, the Rev. Isaac Reed, a Presbyterian, superin- 
tended the organization of a Presbyterian Church, the first 
organized in that township. 

The first sermon preached in Union Township, was at the 
house of Peter Vandiver, in 1827, by Elder William Irving ; and 
in 1831, we find Elder James Ashley preaching at Gwinnie Ut- 
terback's, and the following year a Baptist Church was organ- 
ized in the Utterback neighborhood. And no sooner had Serrill 
Winchester, Jesse and Joseph Young and Jacob Banta put up 
their cabins in the same township, when they joined together and 
built a meeting-house of hewed logs, and awaited the arrival of a 
preacher to organize the Shiloh Presbyterian Church of that 
place. This was the first church house built in Union. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 67 

But the limits of this work forbid the recital of many things, 
and among others, a brief sketch of the various church organiza- 
tions of the county. The aim is to show that the pioneers held 
to the precepts of the Christian religion, and that while laying 
the foundations of a material prosperity, they failed not to lay 
the foundations of the Christian Church. 

And, besides that, it may be observed that the Baptist socie- 
ties took a firmer root on the south side than any others; that 
the Presbyterians colonized a broad belt through the middle 
region of the county, while the Methodists took possession of the 
northwest quarter. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

The pioneers of Johnson County were no less zealous in the 
cause of education than in matters of religion. Themselves, gen- 
erally, indifferently educated, they nevertheless felt the want of 
it keenly, and sought by every means in their power to do better 
for their own ofispring than had been done for them. School- 
houses were accordingly built whenever the number of children 
within reach was sufficient to support a little school. These 
houses were of the most primitive style, and all built of logs. 
Commonly, a cabin of round logs, sixteen by eighteen feet, was 
erected, with a huge fire-place in one end ; while a log, the entire 
length, cut out of the side or other end, served as a window. 
Usually, this window was covered with oiled paper. Benches, 
made of split logs, served as seats, and boards laid upon pins 
driven into the wall, with an upward slant, were used as writing 
tables. One schoolhouse, the most primitive of all, stood in the 
south side of White River Township. The chimney of this cabin 
rested upon four posts set in the ground, about six feet apart, in 
.the middle of the cabin. The fire was built on the earth in the 
center, and the smoke arose to the chimney above of breezeless 
days. The seats were arranged on the four sides of the fire. 
Primitive as these houses were, they were nevertheless dedicated 
to learning. Schoolmasters were employed, and the rudiments of 
knowledge taught to a generation that proved to be not unworthy 
sons and daughters of worthy fathers and mothers. 

MARKETS. 

It need be no surprise if wealth increased slowly at first. How 
else could it be with men who began life in humble circumstances, 
and who had to fight nature for a living. But there was. never- 
theless, an increase. Farms were opened out, and, after a time, 
a surplus of grain and stock was produced. Markets, however, 
were unhandy, and prices low. Wheat was wagoned to Madison 



68 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

or Lawrenceburg, on the Ohio River, and often sold for 37J 
cents per bushel. And it was not an uncommon thing that two 
neighbors joined teams, and one wagon, laden with wheat, car- 
ried the surplus of both to the distant market. Corn was fed to 
hogs, and the hogs driven to the river markets. Think of the 
hogs fat enough at this day to be marketable, setting out on a 
hundred miles journey on foot. In the fall of 1824 or 1825, 
Jacob Lowe came to White River, from Ohio, and bought a drove 
of hogs. The price paid was |1.25 per hundred, gross weight, 
but no hogs were weighed. The buyer and seller guessed at the 
weight, and afterward, when men began to weigh, it was learned 
that the more experienced buyer had bought his hogs at about 
75 cents per hundred. The hogs bought by Lowe were penned 
on the farm of Jacob Whetzel, in the White River bottom, and 
men were employed to drive them around the field for several 
days to train them for driving on the road. After being properly 
trained, they were driven through to Cincinnati. 

The price agreed to be paid by Lowe was high for the times. 
For many years after that, dressed pork often sold in Johnson 
County as low as $1 per hundred pounds. But $1.50 seems to 
have been the prevailing price. Good work horses were worth 
from $25 to $50 each; milch cows from $5 to $10. Joab Wood- 
ruff bought twenty head of one and two year old cattle, when he 
came to the county, for $50, which was $2.50 each. Chickens 
sold for 50 cents to 75 cents per dozen. Fat turkeys, tame or 
wild, from 15 to 25 cents each; butter, 5 to 8 cents per pound; 
eggs, 3 to 5 cents per dozen; saddles of venison, from 25 to 50 
cents; maple sugar, 6 J to 10 cents per pound; coon skins were 
worth from 20 to 40 cents, depending on quality; deer skins, 20 
to 30 cents, but about 1824 or 1825, Samuel Herriott bought 500 
at 6 cents each. Farm labor was worth from $8 to $10 per 
month, while 25 cents per hundred was the customary price for 
cutting the timber and making rails. In 1825, Henry Mussul- 
man made rails for a bushel of meal per hundred, and the meal 
was worth 25 cents per bushel. Corn brought from 10 to 20 
cents per bushel; oats, from 8 to 12| cents, and ginseng 25 cents 
per pound. This last article was for many years one of the chief 
articles of exportation. All ages and sexes hunted for and dug 
ginseng with great perseverance and industry, sure of a certain 
sale of all they could find, at a good price for that day. 

Foreign stuffs were of high price. Samuel Herriott bought 
four pounds of coffee at 50 cents per pound, as he came through 
Madison to this county, in 1820, and when George King moved 
out in 1823, he paid 62J cents per pound in the same market. On 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 69 

the authority of the late Thomas Williams, it may be stated that 
Daniel Taylor, the first merchant in Franklin, sold two and a 
half pounds of coifee for |1, but the quality is not known. From 
the books kept by Daniel Mussulman, of his mercantile transac- 
tions in 1835 and 1836, it appears that prices ruled at that time 
as follows: Coffee, 20 cents per pound; tea, $1.50; pepper, 25; 
salt, 2|; sugar, 12| to 16f ; indigo, 16^ per ounce; iron, 10; 
nails, 91; sugar kettles, 5 cents per pound; book muslin, 75 
cents per yard ; calico, 37| to 40i cents ; flannels, 75 cents, and 
blue jeans, 37| ; wall paper (for window shades), 12| cents per 
yard; bed tickings, 30; domestics, 16§, and shirtings, 25 cents; 
tin cups, 6^ each ; almanacs, same price ; meal sieves, 75 cents ; 
grass scythes, $1; sickles, 62| to 75; wool cards, 37 J to 43; 
paper of pins, 12 J ; paper of tacks, 25 ; foolscap paper, 25 cents 
per quire; letter paper, 37|^; saddle blankets, f 1.50 each; a 
"Leghorn bonnet," $2.25, and "trimmings for same," $1.43. 

The natural result of men's surroundings was to foster a spirit 
of industry and economy. The scarcity of money and the great 
diflBculty of getting it, made men thoughtful in spending it. 
Luxurious living was not thought of, and extravagant expendi- 
tures were seldom indulged. 

And men were careful to look after their just dues. Not a few 
instances appear in the old records of claims being filed against" 
the county for 12| cents, 18| cents and 25 cents. It is in mem- 
ory that a customer at a store was found on settlement indebted 
to the merchant in the sum of 18| cents, and had not the money 
wherewith to pay. The merchant wrote a note which the cus- 
tomer signed and afterward paid. 

With the habits of industry and economy appertaining to the 
pioneers of this county, there could be but one result. They 
improved the county and accumulated wealth, and their well- 
improved farms, and the great material wealth of to-day, are the 
necessary outcome of all this primitive toil and thrift. 




70 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

CHAPTER XI. 

CONDUCT OF COUNTY BUSINESS. 

By au act of the Legislature of January 31, 1824, the law 
providing for a court of Commissioners was repealed, and a Board 
of Justices provided for, charged with the duties theretofore per- 
taining to the Court of Commissioners. Every Justice of the 
county was ex officio a member of the board, and it was made 
the duty of each Justice to attend at the county seat on the first 
Monday in September, 1824, and organize by electing one of 
their number President of the Board for one year, and thereafter 
they were to meet on the first Monday in every alternate month. 
The board so organized was to appoint Listers, Constable, Over- 
seers of the Poor, Supervisors of Roads, Inspectors of Elections, 
Superintendents of School Sections, County Agents, County 
Treasurers, County Collectors, Fence Viewers, grant licenses to 
venders of merchandise, to clock peddlers, dealers in ardent 
spirits, and to tavern-keepers, organize townships, levy taxes, lay 
out and change roads, select juries, make all allowances, and, in 
fine, transact the main part of the general business of the county. 
By way of compensation, these Justices were exempted from 
militia and jury service, from working the roads, and payment of 
a poll tax. No other compensation was allowed. 

From the time when the law went into effect in September, 
1824, up to the 1st of May, 1826, a period of twenty months, no 
record of the acts of the Board of Justices is to be found, and 
whatever they did has not been remembered. 

At the May meeting in 1826, Archibald Glenn, Joab Wood- 
ruff, David Durbin, John Israel, Thomas Low, Patrick Cowan 
and Spencer Barnett, Justices, appeared and took their seats. 
Glenn was President, having been elected in September before. 
The first business done by the board was the granting of Thomas 
Carter, of Edinburg, a license to keep a tavern. Next came 
"sundry citizens of Nineveh and Blue River Townships," asking 
for a review of that part of the Indian Creek road which lies be- 
tween Daniel Mussulman's land and Edinburg. The review was 
granted, and Arthur Robinson, Jesse Young, Hezekiah Davison, 
Hiram Smith and Jefferson D. Jones appointed Reviewers. 
After that, an allowance was made to George W. Blankenship 
and Henry Byers of $1.50 to each, for three days' service in 
attending the poor in their township. Then comes William Hunt, 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 71 

who is described as an agent for Robert and Josepli Brackenridge, 
who has leave to establish a ferry across Blue River, where 
the Madison road crosses the same; but whether it was intended 
that this privilege should inure to the benefit of the agent or 
his principals, the record does not disclose. 

This being done, the board proceeded to district the county for 
road purposes. In that day, and for many years after, this was 
an important matter. Roads were new and needing careful 
attention to enable persons at some seasons to travel over them at 
all, and, as the county was settled up, constant changes in the 
boundaries of districts were found to be necessary. At this time 
the county was broken up into ten road districts, and as many 
persons appointed to supervise the work done on the roads ; and 
while no one would be curious to know the boundaries of these 
districts, it might be of interest to know that Jesse Young, Isaac 
Smock, Nathaniel St. John, William Etter, James Hamner, 
William W. Robinson, Thomas Henderson, Henry Burkhart, 
Jefferson D, Jones and Charles Martin were appointed the 
Supervisors. After this the board proceeded to consider the 
claims on file. One of $4, in favor of William Barnett, for 
work done on the court house, was allowed, and he Avas privi- 
leged to " lift his bond filed in the Clerk's office for the completion 
of the work to be done to court house." Patrick Cowan and 
Thomas Russell were each allowed |1.50, their fees in the case 
of the State of Indiana vs. Richard Neal ; Lewis Bishop came 
in for $1 "charges for keeping Richard Neal while a prisoner," 
and John Barnett got 50 cents, and Joseph Hickerson |1, for 
standing guard over the said Richard; and John Smiley, the 
Sheriff, got $41.10 for "guarding, dieting, etc.," said Richard 
Neal, and two others, Nathaniel Bell and William Barlow. 

Richard Neal was proving himself an unprofitable citizen. A 
special term of the Circuit Court had been called on his account, 
and a grand jury impaneled to consider a presentment to be 
made against him, charging him with having sent a challenge to 
fight a duel ; but the jury ignored the bill, and Richard drops 
out of sight, leaving these bills to be paid by the county. John 
Campbell, the County Agent, was then allowed $2.61f for 
whisky and stationery furnished for county use while Agent. 
This whisky was for the benefit of the buyers of the town lots. 
These and some other allowances being made, the board next 
made up the traverse and grand juries to serve at the ensuing Sep- 
tember and March terms, and as the men chosen on these juries 
included so large a proportion of the voting population of the 
county at that date, their names are herewith given. 



72 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

Traverse Jury chosen for September term, 1826 : Hugh 
Williams, Robert Winchell, John McCord, Jr., David Stevens, 
Elias Hilbun, Isaac Garrison, Jacob White, John B. Smock, 
William Springer, George W. Blankenship, John Shipp, Levi 
Ogle, Isaac White, Isaac Walker, George Baily, Peter Titus, 
Daniel Mussulman, Jesse Gifford, John Gaunts, Peter Doty, 
Daniel Earlywine, Benson Minor, William Stallcup, Lewis 
Bishop. 

The following persons were ordered summoned for the March 
term, 1827: Samuel Smiley, John Wishard, John Mozingo, 
George Burkhart, Thomas Brook, James Atwood, Abraham Low, 
William Hamner, John H. Powers, Abel Webb, Thomas Need- 
ham, Jacob Cutsinger, Peter Titus, Levi Hall, Gideon Drake, 
Benjamin Hardin, Caleb Vannoy, Perry Baily, Levi Moore, 
Isaac Beasley, John Wheeler, John Davis, James Smock, Alex- 
ander Jamison. 

The following persons were selected from whom a grand jury 
was to be made up at the September term, 1826: Robert Moore, 
George Connell, John Alexander, Hezekiah McKinney, Lewis 
Pritchard, Henry Koontz, William W. Robinson, Richard Shipp, 
Gavin Mitchel, Benjamin Culver, Ebenezer Perry, Arthur Rob- 
inson, Henry Burkhart, William Harter, Andrew Pearce, 
Thomas Hardin, George Hill, John Barnett. 

The following persons were selected from whom a grand jury 
was to be made for the March term, 1827 : Obadiah Perry, Chris- 
topher Johnson, Isaac Sutton, John Doty, Nathaniel St. John, 
James Wylie, Spencer Barnett, Edward Cheat, John S. Miller, 
Daniel Covert, John Adams, Isaac White, Nicholas Sells, Daniel 
Taylor, David Baird, Thomas Carter, Jacob Sutton, Silas Koons. 

After the selection of the new juries, came the allowances for 
those who had served on both traverse and grand juries at the 
last March term, and to every juror was allotted the sum of 
$1.50, being 75 cents per day, and no mileage. The names of 
these traverse jurymen are as follows : Charles Martin, George 
Barnett, James Hamner, William Burkhart, Perryman Wilkins, 
James Richey, Jonathan Hougham, David Trout, Richard Perry, 
Samuel Johnson, William Shaffer, Joshua Palmer. 

The names of grand jurymen are as follows: Jesse Davison, 
Michael Broom, George Hollenback, Henry Brown, Joab Wood- 
ruff, Nathan Culver, William Spears, Edward Bartley, William 
Barnett, John Foster, Robert Gillcrees, Henry Burkhart, Thomas 
Williams, John Brunk. 

Money was necessary to carry on the county government in 
1826, as well as now, and it therefore, became necessary to raise 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 73 

a county revenue. To this end the following schedule of taxes 
was ordered levied by the board : 

On each horse, mule or ass over three years old $ 37^ 

On each work oxen 18| 

On each gold watch 1 00 

On each silver or pinchbeck 25 

On each white male person over twenty-one years 50 

On each license to retail foreign merchandise 15 00 

On each license for tavern 5 00 

On each ferry 2 00 

On each covering horse 2 00 

The limits of this work forbid a further pursuit of this theme 
in detail. It may be observed, however, that the old records 
bear ample testimony of the caution shown by the Justices in 
their management of county affairs. Associate Judges they 
allowed $2 per day by virtue of a statute, and jurymen were 
alloAved 75 cents per day, presumably by virtue of a statute also ; 
but Inspectors of Elections, Road Viewers, Bailiffs, Overseers of 
the Poor, and all others doing service for the county where it was 
proper to charge a per diem, received some 50 cents, and others 
75 cents per day, but never more than 75 cents was allowed. 

At the November session for 1826, Joseph Young, the County 
Treasurer, made a report of the condition of the treasury, which 
shows at a glance the humble condition of the times: 

County orders, certificates of services of jurors, and re- 
ceipts for money paid f 319 00 

Collector's commissions 14 04 

County Treasurer's commissions 7 97^ 

Delinquent taxes for 1825 19 00 

Cash in treasury 29 24 

On the 5th of January, 1827, Hensley Township was organ- 
ized, and, on the 4th day of May, 1829, Pleasant Township was 
likewise organized, while Union came in on the 5th day of July, 
1830, and Clark not until the 8th of May, 1838. 

We have seen that the census of 1830 shows a population of 
4,019, and while the increase of wealth had by no means kept 
pace with the increase of population, the reasons for which must 
appear to every thoughtful person, yet there was growth in this 
direction. The county revenue at this time, from all sources, 
was about $1,000 per annum, and a glance at the records of this 
year discloses the articles and persons upon which taxes were 
levied to raise so much of this sum as did not come through the 
hands of the county agents for the sale of town lots. 

''It is," says the record, "ordered, that there be levied a 
county revenue for the year A. D. 1830, on each horse, mule or 
ass over three years old, 31^ cents; each covering horse, $2; on 



74 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

each work oxen, 15f cents ; each pleasure carriage, 50 cents ; on 
each brass clock, 50 cents; on each watch, 25 cents; on each 
poll, 37^ cents ; on license to keep a tavern and retail spirituous 
liquors, $5; on each license to retail spirituous liquors, foreign 
and domestic groceries, $5 ; on each license to vend foreign mer- 
chandise, $10 for twelve months, for six months, |6, for three 
months, $4, for two months and under, $3; on each town lot, 
50 cents on the $100 in value; on each original suit commenced 
in the Circuit Court, 50 cents; on each hundred acres of first- 
rate land, 25 cents ; on each hundred acres of second-rate land, 
20 cents ; on each hundred acres of third-rate land, 16 cents." 

It was decided in this year that the old log court house was no 
longer suitable for the transaction of county business. At no 
time had any of the county offices been kept in this building. 
The lower rooms, used for jury rooms when the court was in ses- 
sion, were rented by the County Agent to whomsoever wanted 
them when the court was not in session, and the proceeds paid 
over to the County Treasurer. But now the Board decided to 
build a more commodious house, and whatever of criticism or 
comment their decision may have occasioned, does not appear of 
record. At the January term for that year, it was ordered that 
" Thomas Williams, County Agent, advertise that there will be let 
to the lowest bidder on Tuesday, the second day of the next term 
of this Board, the building and inclosing of a brick house for a 
court house, forty feet square, two stories high, with two doors, 
to be covered, and a suitable cupola, the foundation to be built 
one foot with rock." Arrangements had been made to procure 
"from Col. Morrow, or any other person, as soon as practicable, 
a suitable plan," but that was not done in time for " Tuesday, the 
second day of next term." Somebody had blundered. Next it 
appears that Patrick Cowan, Mahlon Seybold, Abraham Lowe, 
Thomas Henderson, Thomas Needham and George W. King, 
members of the Board of Justices, were appointed a committee 
to "attend to the court house on Tuesday, the 9th inst.," and let 
the new building to the lowest bidder, the plan of which the 
committee was to agree upon. 

At the appointed time the building was let. Samuel and 
John Herriott contracted to do the work for |1,427, and they 
were given two years to do it in. In twenty months, the building 
was inclosed and ready for the inside work, which, not being 
included in the Herriott contract, was let to William Shaffer, a 
carpenter, for $349.50, which made the entire cost of the build- 
ing $1,776.50, and it was considered a superb structure when 
completed. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 75 

The Justices of the county continued to serve as a County- 
Board up to 1831, when they were retired by an act of the Leg- 
islature, and a Commissioners' Court of three members took that 
place. The following-named persons served as members of the 
Board of Justices from the July term, 1826, when the records 
begin, up to their last term, in 1831: Archibald Glenn, Joab 
Woodruff, David Durbin, John Israel, Thomas Lowe, Patrick 
Cowan, Spencer Barnett, William AV. Robinson, John Foster, 
William Dunn, Richardson Hensley, Jesse Wells, Curtis Pritch- 
ard, Thomas Henderson, George W. King, John S. Sanders, 
John Alexander, Isaac Smock, Abraham Lowe, Mahlon Seybold, 
Thomas Lockhart, Thomas Needham, John James, James Thomp- 
son, Arthur Robinson, James Gillaspy, James Ritchey. 

James Gillaspy, of Ninevah Township: James Ritchey, of 
White River, and Thomas Henderson, of Franklin, were elected 
County Commissioners. The two former held the September 
term of Commissioners' Court for 1831, Henderson not taking 
his seat until the November term. But this Commissioners' 
Court was of short life. On the 6th of January, 1834, they 
gave way to another Board of Justices, by virtue of a Legislative 
act then lately become a laAV. The Board as organized under the 
new law, was composed of John Foster, James Chenoweth and 
William Adams, of Franklin Township ; Isaac Smock and John 
Alexander, of Pleasant ; Mahlon Seybold and Abraham Seybold, 
of White River ; John Bergen and John James, of Union ; Rich- 
ard Foster and Henson C. Martin, of Hensely ; Aaron Dunham 
and Arthur Robinson, of Nineveh, and James Thompson and John 
S. Sanders, of Blue River. 

A board, constituted of the Justices of the county elected from 
time to time, continued to transact the public business of the 
county up to 1837, when a final return was made by the Legisla- 
ture to a Board of three Commissioners, which system is still in 
vogue. The persons who served on this last Board of Justices, in 
addition to those whose names have already been given, were as 
follows : Abraham Low, Jacob Peggs, Thos. Robertson, William 
Brunnemer, Henry B. Roland, Richard Foster, Robert Farns- 
worth, Cornelius McDermet, Gideon Drake, John Lowe, John C. 
Goodman, Isaac Vannice, Charles G. Dungan, Cornelius Lyster 
and Austin Jacobs. 

In May, 1837, the county was divided into three Commission- 
ers' districts, as follows : Blue River, Nineveh and Hensley, to 
compose the First District ; Union and Franklin, the Second Dis- 
trict, and White River and Pleasant, the Third District, and no 
change has since been made, except to add Clark Township to the 
Third when it was organized. 



76 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

CHAPTER XII. 

INCIDEITTS. 

The history of the county, following the settlement of the 
country up to the present, would fill a volume, if written in detail. 
But the time has not come when one might venture upon writing 
such a work, much less publish it. Many of those who took an 
active part in the stirring times succeeding the colonization of the 
county are yet living, and just criticism would be out of the ques- 
tion. But while we may not venture upon any connected history 
of the times indicated, it may not be amiss to group in this con- 
nection some facts and events belonging to the county, which may 
seem to call for recognition. 

The conservative character of the people of Johnson County 
has ever been a subject of remark. Whatever the cause may be, 
the absence of the rash and sensational element that sometimes 
mars the general character of a community, is a conspicuous feature 
here. But if our people are a quiet and conservative people, they 
are at the same time an industrious and thrifty people. With great 
industry, and with equal quietness, they set to work in the begin- 
ning to convert the woodland into arable. We have followed 
them somewhat in their severe task in previous chapters, and now, 
taking up the broken thread, we may note that while the progress 
in population and wealth for many years in this county was slow, 
when tested by the examples coming to us from more favored 
localities of the present, yet there was progress in everything that 
goes to the up-building of a people. The conversion of forest, and 
often of swamp land into productive, was not the work of a few 
years. A generation of strong men perished in the attempt, and 
left the work unfinished. Their sons and successors took up the 
task where they left off, and the memories of men now living 
require no reminder to call to mind the magnitude of that unfin- 
ished work. 

By the close of 1836, the great body of the lands, taking the 
county over, had been taken up, and by that time it may be set down 
that the county, as a whole, was fairly settled. In 1830, as we 
have seen, the census report showed a population of 4,019, and 
from that time on, for the next ten years, the increase in popula- 
tion was, all things considered, exti*aordinary. It was in the lat- 
ter half of this decade that a financial distress prevailed through- 
out the United States of such unparalleled severity as to result in 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 77 

a change of administration of the General Government, That 
distress was no less here in Johnson County than elsewhere. And 
in addition to this, it must be borne in mind that this was the 
decade in which sickness throughout Johnson County was more 
keenly felt than during any decade before or since. This was the 
transition period of the county from woodland to cleared, and 
during the "sickly season" of the year, there was mourning in 
every neighborhood. 

And yet the county grew in population, wealth and moral 
power. In 1835, it had increased, judging from the vote of that 
year, to at least 6,500. By 1840, it had increased, as shown by 
the census report, to 9,352, an increase of over 100 per cent in 
ten years. And while we may lament the absence of data to 
enable exactness of speech concerning the increase of wealth, still 
it is safe to say that increase was much greater than the increase in 
population. The toilers had not ceased. Their numbers had not 
diminished, and the tillable acres had sextupled. It is during 
these years that we find that the young men of the county, who 
had grown up beside the hardships of the country, were going out 
and making entries of land in their own names, with money 
earned with the grubbing-hoe, the ax and the maul. 

From 1810 to 1850, population and wealth continued on the 
increase, but not at so great a rate as during the former period. 
Johnson County was no longer a " new country," inviting home- 
hunters to come and buy land at Government prices, and so we 
need not expect so large a showing in the census reports. For 
1850, the total number of polls was 12,101, a healthy growth, 
when we remember all the surroundings. 

During the year ending June, 1850, there were in the county 
379 births, 176 marriages, and 123 deaths. 

The improved lands at this time amount to 71,230 acres, and 
the cash value of the same is estimated at $1,928,575, while the 
value of the farming implements and machinery is put at $97,233. 

Value of home manufactures for one year $37,824 

Number of horses in the county 4,439 

Number of asses and mules 176 

Number of milk cows 3,587 

Numlier of work oxen 365 

Number of other cattle 4,896 

Number of sheep 19,335 

Number of swine in the county 36,055 

Value of live stock $333,704 

Value of slaughtered animals $77,080 

Bushels of wheat raised this year 99,038 

Bushels of corn raised this year 993,375 

Bushels of oats raised this year 34,363 

Pounds of tobacco raised this year 11,538 

Pounds of wool clipped this year 41,603 



78 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

Evidently men were at work. Tedious as census tables may be, 
here is the story of industry and success told by these figures, 
better, briefer than it can be told in any other mode. 

But the men of Johnson County were not working with the 
muck-rake to the exclusion of better things This table says there 
are 104 public schools in Johnson County at this time, and that 
2,725 pupils were in attendance. It also tells us that there are 
20 Baptist Churches, 13 Christian, 2 Lutheran, 28 Methodist, 2 
Moravian and 18 Presbyterian — 83 in all, a number so large as 
to be suggestive of the fact that census-takers sometimes make 
mistakes ; and we remember this the more when, ten years after, 
we count up and find but fifty-seven churches, distributed as fol- 
fows : Baptists, 12 ; Christian, 15 ; Methodist, 17 ; Presbyterian, 
10 ; Roman Catholic, 2, and United Brethren, 1. 

The census for this year (1860) shows a population of 14,835, 
an increase of 2,734 in ten years. Immigration had ceased in the 
main, while quite an active emigration had set in toward the 
region west of the Mississippi. 

But if between 1850 and 1860 there was slow growth, the next 
decade made up for it. Notwithstanding the consumption of 
human life by the war, the increase was remarkable, the population 
in 1870 being no less than 18,366. The causes for this increase 
were manifold. The habit of emigrating to new States had ceased, 
and the South had sent its refugees here to swell our number. 
The work of clearing ofi" the land was about over. The due pro- 
portion between woodland and farm land required by good hus- 
bandry was being approximated, and while fallen timber no longer 
choked the drains producing lagoons and morasses, a new and 
improved system of underdrainage was introduced, was univer- 
sally practiced by the owners of hitherto wet lands, and the entire 
county taken through a change, whereby its productive power was 
so largely increased that farm labor is in demand to a degree un- 
known before. 

Highways had been cut out in numbers sufficient for the accom- 
modation of the people, and as the country was cleared out and 
efibrts made at drainage, the highways were greatly improved 
beyond their early condition. But there were, and still are, 
seasons when the dirt roads in some localities are barely pass- 
able. 

In the month of January, 1847, occurred a flood which from its 
severity came to be known here and elsewhere throughout the 
State as the " great freshet." The Franklin Examiner of the 
date of January 5, of that year, contains the following brief ac- 
count of the flood and its consequences : 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 79 

" On Friday last occurred here the highest and most destruc- 
tive freshet witnessed since the settlement of the country. On 
Thursday evening about dark, an unusually heavy rain came up, 
which continued with more or less abatement throughout the night, 
until noon on Friday, by which time the low grounds in every 
direction were under water, and almost every rill and drain was 
swelled to an impassable torrent, carrying away fences, bridges 
and everything movable." 

All the bridges over Young's Creek, the Hurricane, Blue 
River, Sugar Creek, the North and South Forks of Stotts' Creek, 
were destroyed or badly injured. Great damage was done to the 
mills and to the farms. Travel for many days was suspended, 
and the mail carriers failed to make their rounds. This flood was 
general throughout the Ohio Valley, and occasioned, along every 
river and smaller water-course, unparalleled destruction of prop- 
erty and, in some places, loss of life. 

Frequent rains continued throughout the months of January, 
February and March, and, as a consequence, the roads were worse 
than ever before. 

"An amusing chapter," writes John R. Kerr, the editor of the 
Examiner^ of the date of March 2, " might just at this time be 
made up of the various shifts and expedients of travelers to get 
on their way, or their expressions of disappointment and impa- 
tience at finding themselves fairly mud-bound and brought to a 
standstill, just when to them it appears their business requires 
more haste. Some stow their baggage and themselves in the best 
manner they can, in quarters most convenient to the swamped mud- 
cart. Others, mounting jaded stage-horses, bare-back, and others, 
with their baggage shouldered, have gone ' on their way rejoicing ' 
on foot. Nearly all of our citizens, in some way or other, as well 
as travelers, are subject to much inconvenience and vexation on 
account of the state of the roads. * * * Money seems to 
have lost its charms with teamsters, and entreaties and persuasions 
are of no avail. The merchant's goods of Franklin are piled up 
in the depot at Edinburg, while the grain and other heavy arti- 
cles, which they have taken in for export, must remain on hand 
for some time, and may occasion them much loss." 

Out of all of this mud came an earnest effort to make better 
roads. On the 16th of March a "road meeting" was held at 
the court house in Franklin, at which Judge Fabius M. Finch, 
Gilderoy Hicks, Esq., Jesse Williams and Robert Hamilton seem 
to have actively participated, and a movement was then set on foot 
which culminated in 1849 in the construction of the Franklin and 
Mooresville plank road. About the same time, the Edinburg and 



80 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

Western Plank Road Company was organized, and a plank road 
was made from Edinburg to Williamsburg. But the plank road 
system was a failure, and it was not until about 1865, that the value 
of the gravel beds scattered throughout the north and east halves of 
the county, for road purposes, came to be known. Since then the 
main thoroughfares have been graded and laid with gravel, and 
there is at this time not less than 150 miles of gravel road in the. 
county. 

In 1836, the people of Indiana became infatuated with the idea 
of carrying on a great system of internal improvements, and ex- 
tensive canals were dug, and water-powers improved, and a rail- 
road from Madison to Indianapolis was projected. The system of 
internal improvements thus inaugurated, brought disaster to the 
people of the State, and the railroad track to Johnson Co. Work 
was begun on the Madison & Indianapolis Railroad a generation 
ago, but the iron was not laid to Edinburg until 1845. They 
built railroads slowly in those days. It was two years after Edin- 
burg was reached before cars ran into Franklin. This event took 
place some time between the 17th and the 24th days of August, 
1847, and Indianapolis was reached some time after. 

In the spring of 1846, the project of building a lateral branch 
railroad from Franklin to Martinsville was actively discussed, but 
two or three years were consumed before anything definite was 
accomplished, and the Martinsville & Franklin Railroad was not 
completed until some time in 1853. In the fall of 1857, the old "flat 
bar-iron " and the wooden rails gave out, and trains ceased to run. 
In the sprmg of 1866, however, the franchises of the old company 
passed into a new one, and the line was built through to Fairland, 
in Shelby County, thus making a connection with the Indianapolis, 
Cincinnati & La Fayette Company. 

In 1848, the lateral branch railroad connecting Edinburg and 
Shelbyville was built, but this proving to be an unprofitable in- 
vestment, it was abandoned, and during the early stages of the 
war the iron was removed from the track. 

Between the hours of 12 and 1 o'clock, A. M., of May 18, 
1849, a fire broke out in Franklin, which, besides doing much 
damage to private property, destroyed the court house. Most of 
the records and papers were saved, but time has shown that some 
of the latter were lost. 

Previously to this, the Commissioners had been considering the 
propriety of building offices for the accommodation of the county 
officers, and now they took up the work of building a new court 
house, and on the 4th day of July of that year a contract to build 
was let to Edwin May, of Indianapolis, for the price of $10,084. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 81 

John Elder, of the same place, was allowed $50 for the plans and 
specifications, which, however, cannot now be found. 

This building served the purpose, although many changes from 
time to time were made in and about the court-room up to 1874, 
when, on the evening of the 12th day of December, fire broke out 
in or about the stairway leading to the cupola, and the Johnson 
County Court House was again destroyed. One or two records 
were burned, and in removing the papers from the Clerk's ofiice, 
some were lost, and all orderly arrangement was destroyed. It 
now became necessary to make some provision for the accommo- 
dation of public ofiicers and courts, and a temporary frame struct- 
ure was erected on the south side of the square suitable for the 
purpose. In 1879, however, the grand jury of the county re- 
ported this to be unsuitable for the preservation of the records, 
and the Commissioners of the county thereupon set about the 
work of building a new court house. Plans and specifications, 
prepared by George W. Bunting, architect, were adopted, and in 
September of that year, the contract for building the house was 
let to Farman & Pierce for $79,100. 




82 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE EARLY BAR OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

Johnson County, at the time of its organization, was attached 
to the Fifth Judicial Circuit, and provision was made for two terms 
of court each year. The Circuit Court was then, as now, the 
most important court to the people in the State. All causes of 
any magnitude whatever, were taken there for trial. 

Three Judges were provided for by constitutional enactment, 
a President Judge and two Associate Judges. This last feature 
in the constitution of the court testifies to the feeling of wide- 
spread jealousy in the minds of the people, not only of profes- 
sional men, but of their own rights. While the law did not require 
that a lawyer should be elevated to the chief place on the bench, 
yet it was a rare thing to find any other than a lawyer occupying 
that place. We do not call to mind at this time any instance in 
Indiana of a layman being elected by legislature or the people to 
the office of President Judge of the Circuit Court. The law of 
" natural selection " controlled in this matter. 

And yet, while professional learning was in demand, the peo- 
ple demanded that representatives from their own ranks should 
have a seat upon the bench, and that these representatives should 
have the power to override the decisions of the chief Judge. Two 
Associate Judges were accordingly provided for, and, from the 
organization of the State up to the adoption of our present con- 
stitution in 1850, in every county in the State, two. " Associate 
Judges " were chosen, whose duty it was to conduct the court in 
the absence of the President Judge, and to aid him in the dis- 
charge of his duties when he was present. In the event they 
deemed him to be mistaken in his opinions as to questions of law 
or fact, or that he was acting from any wrong or improper motive, 
they could modify or overrule his judgments, and enforce their 
own as the judgment of the court. 

At the time Johnson County became a part of the Fifth Ju- 
dicial Circuit, William Watson Wick was the President Judge, 
and, as Judge Wick was so long identified with the people of this 
county, not only as a jurist but as a politician, he deserves more 
than the mere mention of his name. 

Judge Wick sprang from a Dutch, English and Scotch an- 
cestry. His father, William Watson Wick, represented the first 
two nationalities mentioned, and was a sober, serious, pious man^ 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 88 

while his mother was pure Scotch, and, while equally pious, was 
vivacious and witty. They were married in 1790 or 1791, and 
the young husband was a house-carpenter by trade, but soon after 
he laid aside his hammer and handsaw, and fitted himself for the 
ministry in the Presbyterian Church. In due time he was li- 
censed to preach, and soon after moved to Youngstown, Ohio, 
where he performed missionary labor. There he remained until 
his death, which occurred about 1812. 

William Watson, the second child of the foregoing, was born 
on the 22d day of February, 1794, in Western Pennsylvania. 
His early years were spent on his father's farm, but showing a 
greater love for books than did his brothers, he was sent to col- 
lege, and, although he did not graduate, he nevertheless acquired 
a good academic education. 

At his father's death, he left college and set out in the world in 
quest of his own fortune. The study of medicine first engaged 
his attention, but, after some time spent at this, he entered the 
law office of the late Hon. Thomas Corwin, in Lebanon, Ohio, and 
studied law. How long he remained in Corwin's office is not 
remembered, but we may surmise that he was there some time, 
for, in after years, he proved to the world that he was a well-read 
lawyer, and especially well grounded in the principles of equity 
jurisprudence. 

Some time in 1820 he came to Connersville, in Fayette County, 
but soon after moved to Centerville. Shortly after he came to the 
State he was elected Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit, and, in 
February, 1822, moved to Indianapolis. A short time before that 
he was married to Miss Alice Finch, a daughter of Judge J. Finch. 

Judge Wick, in his early life, was full six feet tall, well formed, 
athletic ; had dark hair, a full eye, a mouth full of sound teeth ; 
had a round head, a broad forehead, shaggy eye-brows, and, taken 
all in all, was a fine specimen of manly beauty. He was a good 
lawyer and made an excellent Judge. It is remembered that he 
was not garrulous when on the bench, heard counsel patiently, 
decided all questions promptly, and seldom gave any reasons for 
his decisions. He wrote all bills of exceptions, and did it with 
fairness to all. 

He was a very tender-hearted man, and always gave the ac- 
cused the benefit of the doubt. This brought unfriendly criti- 
cism sometimes, but it did not change his course. 

He was cool and deliberate while on the bench ; he seldom 
or never showed temper. He was kind to young lawyers, was 
respectful to the old, and never sufi'ered any one to go beyond the 
bounds of professional courtesy in their treatment of himself. 



84 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

Of his Associate Judges in Johnson County, Daniel Boaz and 
Israel Watts, it may be said as of all their successors, they were 
honest, fair-minded men, who made no pretensions to anv par- 
ticular knowledge of the law. 

Judge Wick resigned the office of Judge at the close of 1824, 
to take the office of Secretary of State, when Bethuel F. Morris 
was appointed by Gov. Hendricks, and he served for about ten 
years. Judge Morris was a slow man — slow in thought and 
slow in speech. He was not considered by the bar as a well- 
read lawyer, but he was a conscientious and painstaking worker. 
He paid great attention to the arguments of counsel, and usually 
gave satisfactory judgments. He seldom or never gave a reason 
for his judgments, but frequently said, " It is a good deal easier 
to give a good judgment than a good reason for it." A few 
months before his commission expired, he resigned and took an 
office in the State Bank. He has long been dead. 

In 1834, Wick was re-elected, and served to 1840, when his 
term expiring, James Morrison was chosen. Judge Morrison 
was a good lawyer and an able Judge. His mind was clear ; he 
saw a point stripped of all its surroundings, and seldom made a 
mistake in his decisions. He was born in Scotland in 1796, 
and died in 1869. 

After two years' service, Judge Morrison resigned, and Gov. 
Bigger then appointed Fabius M. Finch, of the Johnson bar, to 
the office, who held it one year, when he gave place to William 
J. Peaslee, who served a term of seven years. Judge Peaslee 
was an Eastern man, and not much seems to be remembered 
of him. 

Wick succeeded Peaslee in 1850, and, in 1857, Stephen 
Major succeeded Wick, but he resigned in little less than two years, 
when Wick was re-appointed by Gov. Willard, and served up to 
the fall of 1859, making a total of about fifteen years he served 
in all, when Judge Finch was elected, and held the office for a 
term of six years. On the expiration of his term, John Coburn 
was elected, but he resigned at the end of a year, when Cyrus C. 
Hines was elected, and served as Judge up to the re-districting of 
the State in 1868—69, when Johnson County became a part of the 
Sixteenth Judicial Circuit, which was composed of the counties 
of Shelby, Bartholomew, Brown and Johnson. When that was 
done, Samuel P. Oyler was appointed by Gov. Baker, and served 
up to 1870, when David D. Banta was elected, and held it up to 
1876, when the present incumbent, Kendall M. Hord was elected. 

About 1830, a County Court was established having a purely 
probate jurisdiction, and this was maintained up to the adoption 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 85 

of the constitution of 1850. The Judges of this court were all 
laymen, and their names and order of service were as follows : 
John Smiley, Bartholomew Applegate and Peter Voris. 

With the adoption of the Code of 1852, the Common Pleas 
Court was inaugurated, and this was maintained up to 1871-72, 
when it was abolished, and all the legal business centered in the 
Circuit Court as at the beginning. In 1871-72, on the abolition of 
the Common Pleas Court, the circuit was still further reduced, and 
since then has consisted of Johnson and Shelby Counties. Franklin 
Hardin was the first Common Pleas Judge, and he served up to 
1860, when his last term having expired, and the Common Pleas 
district being enlarged so as to include Monroe, Morgan, Brown, 
Shelby and Johnson Counties, George A. Buskirk, of Monroe, was 
elected Judge, and served as such a term of four years, when 
Oliver J. Glessner, of Morgan, was chosen. On the expiration 
of his term, Thomas W. Woollen, of Johnson, was elected, and 
in 1870, he resigned, when Richard L. Coffey, of Brown, was 
chosen, and he held the office until the court was abolished. 

Johnson County has always been noted for the absence of 
the litigious element among its people. This is due in some 
exfent to their conservative character, but to the bar of the 
county, we think, more is due. The members of any bar may, if 
they see fit, encourage litigation with such a degree of earnest- 
ness as to keep the soberest community in an uproar ; or they 
may, on the other hand, advise conciliation and compromise with 
so much zeal as to repress the greater part of all litigation that 
is of a trivial and merely harassing nature. From whatever 
cause, it is, and always has been, a noticeable fact that litigation 
in Johnson County is less resorted to in the settlement of diflS- 
culties than in any of the neighboring counties of equal popula- 
tion and wealth. 

In the beginning, the courts had but little to do. For thirty 
years after the county was organized it was seldom that a term 
of Circuit Court occupied more than a week. But business was 
more rapidly dispatched then than now. The old lawyers were 
not so tedious in the examination of witnesses as the modern, 
and it was a rare thing indeed for the evidence of witnesses to 
be taken down. There were but few law-books in comparison to 
the number now, and lawyers argued questions from principle 
rather than authority, and this gave greater haste. There are 
law libraries in Franklin to-day containing a thousand volumes, 
while Gilderoy Hicks, a leading member of the bar in his day, 
never owned over twelve or fifteen law-books. One of the most 
important causes tried in the county, under the old judicial sys-~ 



86 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

tem, was the " Woodruff Will Case," which involved title to about 
$50,000 worth of property, and this ease occupied only three 
days in the trial, and that was thought to have been a very long 
time. In that justly celebrated case of the Commonwealth of 
Kentucky, vs Edward C. V/ilkinson and others, tried at Herrods- 
burg, Ky., in 1839, forty witnesses were examined and several 
speeches were made by counsel to the jury, among which counsel 
may be mentioned the names of Sargent S. Prentiss, Benja- 
min Hardin and Judge Rowan, and only six days were consumed 
in the entire trial. 

Up to about 1830, there was not a resident lawyer in the 
county. Daniel B. Wick, the Judge's brother, Harvey Gregg, 
Philip Sweetser, Hiram Brown, Calvin Fletcher, William Quarles, 
John H. Bradley, William Herrod and some other lawyers who 
" rode the circuit " in those primitive days, attended the courts 
here and looked after the interests of the few litigants of the 
county. 

About that time (1830), a lawyer located in Franklin by the 
the name of Winch ell. Where he was from or whither he went 
is not now remembered. His name is not found in the old rec- 
ords, and but for the fact that he was the first lawyer to locate 
in the county, his name would not now be mentioned. 

During the last days of August, 1831, Fabius Maximus 
Finch, a beardless boy, fresh from the law office of Judge Wick, 
came to Franklin and announced himself as a lawyer of the 
place. He was born in Livingston County, N. Y., in 1811, and 
when three years of age, his father, John Finch, moved to Ham- 
ilton County, Ohio, where he remained till 1818, when he moved 
to Hamilton County, Ind. John Finch had a large family of 
children, and their educational advantages were necessarily lim- 
ited. His son Fabius M. attended the common schools of the 
neighborhood, as did his brothers, but he made such headway 
with his studies that his father, who had become an Associate 
Judge of his county, was not displeased when he learned of 
the boy's purpose of studying law. In 1827, being at the time 
about sixteen years old, he went to Indianapolis and entered the 
law office of his brother-in-law, Judge Wick, and commenced 
reading. After going through the prescribed course, he was 
examined and admitted to the bar, and, in 1831, being a little 
over twenty years old, he came to Franklin and opened an ofiice. 

There was not much for a lawyer to do in Franklin in those 
days at the legitimate practice of the law. There was not only 
little to do, but the people were poor and had but little money 
with which to pay for legal business. It was a prevailing cus- 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 87 

torn for lawyers to take the promissory notes of their clients for 
services rendered, and the non-resident lawyers generally ex- 
changed such of their notes as had any exchangeable value with 
the merchants of the county where the payers lived, for dry 
goods and even groceries. It was no uncommon thing in the 
early day to see Hiram Brown, Philip Sweetser and other lawyers 
riding out of Franklin with calicoes, muslins, jeans and other 
articles tied to their saddles, the product of such exchanges. 

When Finch came to the town, Samuel Herriott was Clerk 
of the Circuit Court, and kept his office in a little room in the 
rear of his storeroom, standing on the northwest corner of the 
square. His records were very much behind, and it coming to 
his knowledge that Finch wrote a good hand, he at once made 
him his Deputy. 

William Shaffer, an honest old carpenter, who could make a 
wooden pin better than he could a quill pen, was at the same 
time County Recorder, and he too sought the young man's help, 
and, between the Clerk's office and the Recorder's, Finch found 
profitable employment, profitable to himself, we may hope, and 
certainly profitable to the people of Johnson County, for the rec- 
ords made by him are among the best that have ever been made 
in the county. 

After some time, Pierson Murphy, a physician of the town, 
was elected to the office of School Commissioner, and, appointing 
Finch as his Deputy, he discharged the duties of that office. 

For many years after Johnson County was organized, the 
Whigs held the better county offices, and Fabius M. Finch being a 
Whig, the office-holders quite naturally gave him their counte- 
nance and support. 

But he did not make himself known to the people as a Dep- 
uty Clerk or Deputy Recorder only. He had a higher ambition, 
and that was to be known as a lawyer, and he succeeded. Clients 
came to him one by one, and his business so increased, and he 
managed it in such a manner as to make himself known and felt 
as one among the best lawyers in the circuit. 

In 1839, he was elected as a Whig candidate to the Legisla- 
ture and served during the twenty-fourth session. In 1842, 
Judge Morrison, having resigned his office as Circuit Judge, Gov. 
Bigger appointed Fabius M. Finch to the place, and he served 
until the ensuing election. 

At the close of his term, he returned to the practice of the 
law, and followed it with profit to himself and clients up to 
1859, when he was a candidate for Circuit Judge before the peo- 
ple against his old preceptor. Judge Wick, and was elected. He 



88 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

served his full term on the bench, but before its close he moved 
to Indianapolis, and ceased to be an active member of the John- 
son bar. He is still in active practice in that city in connection 
with his son, John A. Finch. 

In 1832 or 1833, William 0. Ross moved to the town and 
opened a law office, but he did not remain long. It is remem- 
bered that he got some business, but he had a large family, and 
his fees falling short of their support, he moved away in a year 
or two. Nothing more is known of him. 

The third lawyer to locate in Franklin and the second to 
stay, was Gilderoy Hicks. He was born in Rutland, Vt., Jan. 8, 
1804, and when he was quite young, his father moved to Onon- 
daga, N. Y., and, after a few years, he moved to Marietta, Ohio, 
where he remained two years, after which he moved again, and 
this time landed at Patriot, in Switzerland County, Ind. There 
he opened a farm, and Gilderoy did his share of the farm work. 
In the common schools he received the rudiments of an English 
education, and no better schools were ever opened to him. He 
followed teaching for a time during the winter seasons during 
his early manhood, and, owing to his naturally weak constitu- 
tion and a natural love for books, he entered the law office of 
John Dumont, of Vevay, a noted lawyer of the early day, and pre- 
pared himself for the practice of the law. 

In 1828, he married, and in 1833, he moved to Franklin, 
where he spent the remainder of his days. 

Mr. Hicks was in humble circumstances when he came, and 
had a young and growing family to support during the early 
years of his life, and, when we remember the sparseness of busi- 
ness, and, above all, the insignificant fees he charged for his 
services, it is a matter of wonder as to how he managed to main- 
tain himself and gain a permanent foothold. The necessaries of 
life, it is true, could be had at extremely low prices in that early 
day in comparison to the present, and it is to this circumstance, 
like all other lawyers of that early day, he owed his ability to 
make his living, more than to the lucrative character of his 
practice. 

Gilderoy Hicks adhered to the faith of the Whig party, as 
did his professional brother. Finch, but the latter, as we have 
seen, received the aid and influence of Samuel Herriott and, gen- 
erally, of the other leading Whig men of the town and county. 
To this circumstance Finch owed his early success more than to 
any other. 

In the early days, George King was the leading Democratic 
citizen of the town, and quite a rivalry existed between him and 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 89 

Samuel Herriott. In addition to carrying on the business of 
farming, he was selling town lots, was merchandising, and, at one 
time. Postmaster. Controversies requiring the interposition of 
the courts were liable to arise at any time between the two men, 
and the advent of a second lawyer was a welcome one to King. 
Hicks at once received his countenance and support, and, although 
a Whig, he received far more than a full share of the Democratic 
patronage of the county. To this circumstance he owed his early 
success. 

It would be of little interest to compile tables of cases show- 
ing the limited and light character of the legal business trans- 
acted in Johnson County from its organization up to 1850. There 
was, of course, growth, but it was barely appreciable. During 
all of that time, lawyers managed to live, but while farmers and 
others, no more prudent than they, were not only supporting their 
families, they were at the same time clearing out their farms and 
becoming wealthy men through the enhanced price of their lands. 
It was not so with the early lawyers. The large majority died 
poor, and, of the few who accumulated property, it was through 
fortunate investments of legacies left by their fathers, or of such 
small sums as were saved from scanty fees. 

Gilderoy Hicks had some elements of character which are 
sometimes fortunate elements to the man who aspires to political 
life. He was eminently an even-tempered man, was conciliatory 
in his views, and was careful to give offense to no man. He was 
a Whig, as we have seen, but his business and even social affilia- 
tions were, by force of circumstances. Democratic. And so, when, 
in 1848, he announced himself as a candidate for the Legislature, 
although his party was largely in the minority, yet he received 
enough Democratic votes to elect him by a plurality of thirty- 
nine votes over Dr. James Ritchey, the Democratic nominee. 

But, though successful as a Whig candidate, he failed to give 
satisfaction to his party. In a letter addressed " To the citizens 
of Johnson County," and printed in the Franklin Examiner of 
the 8th of June, 1847, he speaks with some bitterness of the 
" wide-spread reports " concerning his political opinions. An 
effort was made that year, he says in his communication, " by 
many persons of both political parties," to bring him out as a can- 
didate for re-election to the Legislature, but upon his declara- 
tion that he " would vote for a Democrat to the United States 
Senate if elected," he was given to understand that his •' Whig 
friends were not pleased." But they seem to have questioned 
him further, and "in reply to which," he says, "I expressed 
ignorance as to Whig policy;" and in turn he questioned his 



90 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

questioners by asking them " whether a United States Bank, a 
highly protective tariff, and a distribution, under present circum- 
stances, were desirable?" The answer came, "as he half-sus- 
pected it would," that "Whig policy was opposition to Democratic 
policy." The next day, he says, that he " found himself reported 
far and wide as having turned Democrat," and before he closes 
his address he admits, with some indirectness, the report to be 
true, and winds up by declining to be a candidate " to avoid the 
charge of venality." 

At the next Democratic County Convention, Mr. Hicks made 
a profession of Democratic faith, and was formally received into 
the membership of that party. And he was not neglected by his 
new party associates after his change. In 1848, he was nom- 
inated for the Legislature and elected over Hume Sturgeon, who 
ran as an independent candidate, receiving 993 votes to Stur- 
geon's 264. In 1849, he was again nominated, and elected over 
Dr. John McCorkle by 460 majority. In 1851, he was nom- 
inated for the Senate, and elected over J. B. Hart, an Indepen- 
dent Democrat, by 792 majority ; and with the close of his Sen- 
atorial term his official life ceased. On the rise of the Know- 
Nothing party, he cast his fortunes with it, and when the Repub- 
lican came into existence he went with it. 

In 1850, in company with Robert Hamilton, he ventured into 
a land speculation which resulted in great profit to him. In 1846, 
he and John Beard, Sr., had bought land of George King, and 
laid off an addition to the town, and the venture had brought 
him $2,000, and with this money as his contribution to the joint 
enterprise, he and Hamilton purchased a tract of fifty-five acres, 
at $100 per acre, and out of the tract they platted Additions 8, 
9 and 10, and from the sale of the lots. Hicks realized a little over 
$11,000. 

In 1857, his health failed, and he retired from the practice of 
his profession and from all active business, and on December 
23 of that year, he died. In his religious views he was a Uni- 
versalist. 

Gilderoy Hicks was not a well-read lawyer nor was he a skillful 
practitioner. But he was, nevertheless, a useful and successful 
lawyer. He knew wherein he was lacking as a lawyer better than 
any one else, and, like the careful, prudent man that he was, he 
was slow to advise a client into doubtful litigation. He ever hes- 
itated to lead the charge for a belligerent client, and was always 
ready to consider terms of compromise. He seldom undertook 
the management of an intricate cause without having assistance. 
Some of those who knew him best ascribe to him the assumption 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 91 

of a humility which he did not feel ; but we are inclined to think 
they misjudge him. He was not a " humble " man in the offens- 
ive sense of that word, but he lacked confidence in himself and 
habitually put a low estimate on his own ability. He did not 
affect much learning ; he did not pretend to be skillful in the 
management of causes ; he did not claim to have power over 
juries ; but he knew from experience that he could persuade men 
into the compromise of their difficulties and save his clients from 
loss more easily than he could by a legal fight in the court room, 
and so he adopted that as his rule of professional life. 

It is said of Hicks that he could '' never look a man in the 
face and charge him a fee ;" and there was probably some reason 
for the saying. But it was due, no doubt, to the distrust of him- 
self. He never rated his own services as high as his clients did. 
He would write a deed or a mortgage or a contract for 25 cents. 
He would make a guardian's or an administrator's report for $1, 
and sometimes charge no more than 50 cents. He would ride 
to the outermost parts of the county and attend to a trial before 
a Justice for $5, and sometimes for |3. He would prosecute a 
cause in the Circuit Court for $5, and sometimes for less. 

But it must not be thought that Hicks was powerless in the 
court room. When his cause came to trial, he utilized his very 
weaknesses. He was quiet and deliberate in his movements ; he 
never became excited ; his language was smooth and conciliatory, 
and he nearly always managed to impress upon the jury that he 
stood in need of their sympathy. While not coming up to the 
level of a good speaker, he was nevertheless a shrewd one. He 
talked to his juries ; he talked soberly and quietly, and he talked 
ingeniously. He was adroit in stating to the jury what the 
opposite side conceived to be the strong point in his case in such 
a manner as the jury would conclude that it had no merit. 

Gilderoy Hicks was a just man himself, and quick to see 
where the wrong lay between two contending neighbors, and 
always ready to point out to them the line of right, and help 
them to it. And, indeed, he relied more on what seemed to him 
to be the fair thing between man and man than upon his judg- 
ment of the law applicable to their cause. 

And the people believed in him. A large clientage accepted 
Hicks' suggestions of right as the final arbitraments of their dis- 
putes. And they had the utmost confidence in his integrity. 
He was the friend of the widow and the orphan, and was very 
frequently trusted with the settlement, as administrator, of im- 
portant estates in the county, and, so far as the writer has heard, 
no hint of unfair dealing was ever charged against him. 



92 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

Gilderoy Hicks was a very attentive man to his business. He 
was constant in his attendance at his offiee. He never went 
abroad to practice his. profession. Among strangers he would 
have been at a disadvantage, and he knew it. He was not only 
attentive to business, but he was careful to see that he had it. A 
woman, or even a child, entering the court room alone, with the 
anxious business look of one in an unaccustomed place, was very 
apt to be accosted by Hicks, and that in such a quiet, persuasive 
manner, that if there was any business to be had. Hicks was 
quite sure to get the benefit of it. 

In December, 1839, a lawyer by the name of Newman came 
to Franklin, and announced his intention of making this his perma- 
nent home. He was from Lebanon, Ohio, was educated at the 
Miami University, and studied law in the Hon. Thomas Corwin's 
office. Newman, whose Christian name is forgotten, was a man 
of pleasing manners, rather good looking, dressed well, was a 
good speaker, and, but for his intemperate habits, might have 
become a successful lawyer. He failed, however, to get the confid- 
ence of the people, and in about eighteen months he went to 
Edinburg, where he remained a short time, since which there is 
no account of him. 

In the month of February, 1841, Robert McKinney came to 
Franklin, and entered the arena as a lawyer. He was born in 
Brown County, Ohio, and was educated at Hanover College, in 
Indiana. Up to that time, he was the best educated lawyer in the 
county. He was a man of a good deal of talent, but he made 
the fixtal mistake of attempting the practice without sufficient 
preparation, and when business came to him he sometimes found 
himself at a great loss to know how to manage it. Robert 
McKinney 's personal appearance was against him. He was tall, 
raw-boned, long-necked, slouchy, and had broad, projecting teeth. 
In his dress he was noticeably old-fashioned, and he lacked that 
suavity of manner so essential to the formation of acquaintances 
in an agricultural comnyinity. 

In the fall of 1841, he was married, but he soon found that 
his business failed to bring a living for himself and wife. And then 
he became discouraged. There was a county library in the town 
at the time ; and, in his strait, he took to this library and, it is said, 
read every book in it. In the fall of 1844, his wife returned to 
her father, and he went to Greenwood, where he taught a school. 
The following spring he moved to Nauvoo, the seat of the Mor- 
mon hierarchy in Illinois. But no greater success attended his 
efforts at the law in his new home than had in his old. He 
wrote a very interesting and instructive account of the Mormons, 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 93 

however, which was published in an Eastern review, and which 
is still quoted as an authority on the Mormon question. He has 
long since been dead. 

About 1843, Royal S. Hicks, a nephew of Gilderoy Hicks, 
was admitted to the bar. But he practiced so little as to scarcely 
have identified himself as a lawyer of the county. He wrote an 
excellent hand, and was long a Deputy in the Clerk's Office, and 
held the place by appointment for several months after the death 
of Capt. Allen. He was familiarly known as " Boss " Hicks, 
for the reason that he "bossed " it over the Clerk's office for so 
long a time. 

In 1852, he was elected by the Democrats to the State Legis- 
lature, and after he had served his term he moved to Spencer 
County, where he has ever since resided. 

In March, 1847, Gabriel M. Overstreet, a resident of the town, 
was admitted to the Johnson County bar. Mr. Overstreet was 
born in Oldham County, Ky., on the 21st day of May, 1819. 
His father, Samuel Overstreet, was a farmer in moderate cir- 
cumstances, and, in 1834, he moved to Indiana, and his son, then 
in his sixteenth year, came with him. 

The family settled in the country, about three miles northeast 
of Franklin, and young Overstreet performed his share of labor 
in clearing out his father's farm. During the winter, he attended 
the neighborhood schools, and in the summer he engaged in farm 
labor. When he was twenty years of age, Samuel Overstreet, 
who had a large family of children and was growing old, made a 
distribution of his property among them, and the subject of this 
sketch invested his share — ^600 — in an education. Entering the 
Franklin Labor Institute as a student, he spent nine months 
therein, and, in May, 1840, he entered the Indiana University at 
Bloomington and remained there for four years, when he took 
his degree of Bachelor of Arts. 

During his collegiate life, he was compelled not only to practice 
the most rigid economy, but to devote his vacations to some money- 
making employment. One vacation he undertook a contract to 
clear land, for which he received the sum of $40. On leaving col- 
lege he entered the law office of Gilderoy Hicks, Esq., as a law 
student, and read law for a year. The winter of 1846-47 he at- 
tended law lectures at the Indiana University under Judge 
McDonald, and, in the spring of 1847, he was licensed to prac- 
tice law. 

Returning to Franklin, he kept up his reading and at the 
same time assisted his brother, William H. Overstreet, a leading 
merchant of the town, in the management of his business. Hav- 



94 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

ing learned the art of surveying, he supplied himself with com- 
pass and chain and practiced that art to a limited extent. 

In 1848, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney for the county 
and served in that capacity for a year. 

In February, 1849, he entered into partnership with Ander- 
son B. Hunter, a partnership which is yet in existence, and which 
has been eminently successful in the practice of the law. It is 
the oldest legal partnership in the State. 

One year after the admission of Overstreet — March, 1848 — 
Anderson B. Hunter was admitted. Mr. Hunter was born in 
Oldham County, Ky., on the 1st day of October, 1826. His 
father, Ralsamon Hunter, emigrated to Johnson County in 
1840, and settled in Hensley Township, where he subsequently 
died. 

Anderson B. Hunter was an undersized boy as he is man, but 
as a boy he enjoyed fairly good health, while as a man, and 
especially during his later years, he has had more than the aver- 
age share of sickness. His undersize brought him certain priv- 
ileges while a boy of which he was quick to take advantage. 
Somewhat precocious, he showed a greater love for books than 
was usual for one of his years, and instead of the schoolroom being 
an irksome place to him, he found it to be the place of all others 
he loved the best. The schools of those days were none of the 
best, but a quick-witted and studious boy was sure to find much 
to study that was interesting to him at the time, and that would 
prove of use to him in after years. 

But young Hunter did not spend all his time at school. The 
winter schools, lasting for three months, during the years that he 
was a schoolboy, were all there was of school for him. During 
the spring, summer and fall months he was engaged upon his 
father's farm. In addition to his undersize, his eyesight was de- 
fective, and it may well be inferred that he did not make a first- 
class farm hand. But, as he has been heard to say himself, " he 
did the best he could, and generally managed to keep pretty well 
up." 

He was fourteen years old when his father moved from Ken- 
tucky, and received but one quarter's schooling after that time. 
For the times, he was considered quite a scholar, and, when he 
had reached his eighteenth year, he went to the work of teaching, 
as nearly all American young men have been and still are in the 
habit of doing. His first school was taught in a smoke-house, 
repaired for the purpose, in the late Burgess Waggoner's door- 
yard, in Nineveh Township, and for the next two years he spent 
the greater part of the time in the schoolroom as a teacher. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 95 

In the spring of 1846, lie made up his mind to the study of 
the law, and with that purpose he made arrangements for the use 
of Gilderoy Hicks' law books. For one year he studied in his 
father's house, going to recite to Mr. Hicks every fortnight. 

In the spring of 1847, he left home and entered Hicks' office 
as a student, but he soon took sick and had to go home. In No- 
vember, he went to Bloomington and attended the Law School in 
the Indiana University, under Judges McDonald and Otto. At 
the close of the law term, he was licensed to practice law in the 
courts of the State, and he then returned to his home where he 
remained till the 4th day of July, 1848, when he went back to 
Franklin, and has made that his home ever since. 

For a time he was in the office of William Bridges, then the 
County Treasurer. In December, Gilderoy Hicks went to In- 
dianapolis to attend the Legislature, and, on the invitation of Mr. 
Hicks, Mr. Hunter entered his office, where he remained up to 
the following February when Hicks returned. Mr. Overstreet 
and himself rented an office together and moved into it without 
any thought of uniting their fortunes in a business venture. 
But, within a few days, the thought came to them that such a 
venture might prove beneficial to both, and, on the 21st of Feb- 
ruary, 1849, a partnership was formed which has never been dis- 
solved, and has been profitable to both parties to it. 

A short time after the admission of Overstreet and Hunter, 
Capt. John Slater was admitted and became a resident lawyer. 
The first known of this eccentric man was in 1845 or 1846. He was 
a Canadian by birth, and came to Franklin, from Dearborn County, 
as a student to Franklin College ; but, after a short time he left 
school and became a student of law in the office of Judge Finch. 
From the first he quarreled with Blackstone ; he disliked his 
quaint style, and took no interest in tracing the law to its sources. 
But Kent's Commentaries, Slater claimed, were the equal in 
interest of any novel, and he read those books with avidity. 

When the Mexican war broke out, and there came a call in 
September, 1845, for volunteers, he was among the first to enlist 
from Johnson County, and he went to Mexico as a private sol- 
dier. He proved himself to be so good a soldier, and was so well 
liked by his comrades, that, on the death of Capt. David Allen, in 
January, 1847, he received a Captain's commission, and remained 
at the head of his company until the troops were discharged. 
He served in the war with great honor and credit to himself 

On his return to Franklin, he and Judge Finch at once formed 
a partnership which continued for five or six years, after which 
he practiced law alone so long as he remained in the county. 



96 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

John Slater was a noticeable man. He was very tall, was 
straight as an arrow, had dark hair, a thin visage, a rubicund 
face ; was slow and deliberate in his motions and grave in his de- 
meanor. His mind was cast in a peculiar mold. He had an 
excellent memory ; he wrote well, as his many letters printed in 
the Franklin Examiner, while a soldier in Mexico, go to show, 
and, on occasion, he courted the muses. He was rather fond of 
miscellaneous reading ; he had good perceptive faculties and was 
full of resources in trying moments. He had a high sense of 
humor, was rather witty, and loved argumentation more than any- 
thing else in the world except himself He was an indolent man, 
and never burdened himself with the labor of hunting for author- 
ities. He trusted to luck in the trial of his causes, saying that 
"Books cramped a man's genius, anyhow," but he seldom mis- 
took the point on which his case rested. He was a store-box 
lounger. Thirty and forty years ago, the business men of Frank- 
lin were less attentive to business than now. It was not uncom- 
mon, at that time, for the merchants and others to spend a good 
portion of the spring and summer days, when the farmers were 
too busy to come to town, pitching quoits, playing chess and dom- 
inoes, or in telling stories. This hum-drum life suited John Sla- 
ter, except that he spent his time sitting on store-boxes, in shady 
places, arguing upon law, theology, medicine, phrenology, mes- 
merism. Democracy, Whiggery, Abolitionism, temperance, or any 
other theme that would serve to furnish him an antagonist ; or in 
telling humorous stories to whomsoever would listen. Nor did it 
make any difference to him which side he chose in his arguments. 
One of his great misfortunes was his utter want of convictions. 
He was an infidel in both politics and religion. To him life was 
a jest, and the beliefs of men were mere puppets to afford amuse- 
ment for the hour. No subject was serious enough to escape his 
levity. He affirmed, disputed, laughed at, any side of any prop- 
osition, according as the humor struck him. Whatever the per- 
son who would deign to argue with him believed, was the thing 
he did not believe — for the time being. 

This want of sincerity was a serious drawback to his profes- 
sional success. His controversial habit came to be known to both 
Judge and jurymen, and how could they know whether he was 
sincere in his arguments or not ? 

Slater carried into politics the same characteristics of mind 
that marreil his professional life. He claimed to be a Democrat, 
and it is fair to presume, that, if he had any political convictions 
whatever, he was a Democrat. But he was more apt to be ar- 
rayed against his party than with it. He was cursed with a greed 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 97 

for office, and would go into convention as a candidate, and, when 
defeated, as usually happened, would run the race, anyhow. In 
1856, he succeeded in carrying a nomination for State Senator, 
and was elected ; before his term expired he left the country, and 
this was the only civil office he ever held. 

Slater was a man of inordinate vanity ; he loved to talk about 
himself and of his popularity among the people. Every time he 
was defeated in convention, he thought the Democratic party in 
the county was sure to be disrupted, because it had ignored his 
claims. 

He was a man of bad morals, and indifferent to public cen- 
sure. He made a boast of his immoralities, and laughed at the 
criticisms of his neighbors. Indeed, he found great satisfaction 
in the thought that the people believed him to be a profligate. 
Nor was he money wise. He spent faster than he made, and, 
•when he left the State, he left numerous creditors behind. 

In 1856, he was elected to the Senate and served one term. 
For three or four years his intemperate habits had been growing 
upon him, and, when he became a Senator, he gave full swing to his 
depraved appetites. At the close of the Senatorial term he 
secretly left the State and has never returned. Whence he 
went, or in what he engaged, was for a long while uncertain. 
He was known to have visited Des Moines, Iowa, and it was said 
that he kept a saloon in Southern Illinois. During the war he 
was met in or about Nashville, Tenn. He was at that time a 
gardener, and, from a letter printed in one of the county papers 
some years ago, it seems that he had followed that business to his 
death, which occurred not long before the letter was printed. 

In 1851, Samuel P. Oyler first offered his services to the 
people of Johnson County as a lawyer, but as a sketch of his 
life appears elsewhere, it would be needless to repeat the facts 
there stated. 

In the same year, or the follo\\ing, Daniel McKinney, who 
had taught school a year in Bartholomew County, came to Frank- 
lin, and after spending about six months finishing a course in 
law reading, he opened a law office and solicited business. 

McKinney was a native of Ohio, and had been educated at 
Oxford, in that State. He was a tall, erect, dark-eyed man, and 
not bad looking. Neat in his appearance, agreeable in his man- 
ners, and, to all outward appearances, being a man of pure morals, 
he was calculated to push his way in the world and achieve success. 
Henry Fox was at the time County Treasurer, and McKinney se- 
cured a deputyship under him. He was also a trusted Odd Fellow, 
and was Treasurer of that order. But a cloud hung over him. He 



98 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

had been compelled to marry a girl in Ohio against his will, and 
had abandoned her as soon as the ceremony was over. A desire 
to marry overcame him while in Franklin, and he commenced 
proceedings for a divorce. But his Ohio wife learning of his 
purpose, wrote to Overs! reet & Hunter, and employed them to 
make defense. Depositions were accordingly taken, and the facts 
brought out disclosed a state of circumstances discreditable to 
McKinney, who soon after left the place and has never been heard 
of since. But before he left, he managed to embezzle quite a sum 
of money belonging to the County Treasury, and he also carried 
away all the money in the Odd Fellows' treasury. 

Gilderoy Hicks had one son, Duane Hicks. Duane was edu- 
cated in the town schools, and was a fair English scholar. Before 
grown, he served an apprenticeship at the saddler's trade, after 
which he studied law in his father's office. About 1851, he was 
admitted to the practice and followed the profession up to the fall 
of 1857, when his declining health prevented his further sedentary 
life. Purchasing a small tract of land near town, he moved to 
the country and tried farm life. But he soon found himself un- 
fitted for that pursuit, and selling his land he returned to Frank- 
lin, and went into the furniture business. But this failed to 
bring returning health, and he next sought relief as a cavalry- 
man in the army ; but in vain. He had the consumption, and 
death had placed its seal upon him. After a short service he 
was discharged, and in 1863 he died in the thirty-sixth year of 
his age. 

Duane Hicks had been a painstaking student, and was a fair 
theoretical lawyer. He studied his cases with care, and prepared 
them well for trial. But he failed in the time of trial. He was 
slow, lacked vim, and could neither persuade nor drive. 

In 1853, Joseph Thompson came to the bar, and remained 
for about three years. He was a young man who failed to get 
legal business of any consequence. He married in the town, and 
afterward moved to McComb, 111., where he now ranks as a good 
lawyer. 

About 1852, H. H. Hatch came to Edinburg, and opened 
a lawyer'a office. He also published a newspaper in that town. 
He was said to have been a fair lawyer, but he soon moved to the 
West. 

About the time Hatch came to Edinburg, Joseph King located 
in the same place. In 1853, he was nominated by the Demo- 
crats for the Legislature, and made the race against Gabriel M. 
Overstreet, Esq., whom he defeated. After serving his legislative 
term, he, too, moved to the West. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 99 

About 1856, Richard M. Kelly was admitted as an Edin- 
burg lawyer. Mr. Kelly was from Jackson County ; and for 
the first six or eight years of his professional life, he was a close 
student, and tried his cases with a good deal of skill. He served 
in the Mexican war, and when the war of the rebellion broke 
out he raised a company and went into the service with a Captain's 
commission. In his later years, Capt. Kelly became dissipated 
and lost his prestige at the bar. He died in 1878, 

In 1855, Charles W. Snow was admitted to the bar, but as a 
sketch of his life appears elsewhere, no further notice is necessary 
here. 

About 1856, Jonathan H. Williams was licensed to practice 
law in Johnson County. Mr. Williams came to Franklin while 
quite a young man, and learned the tailor's trade. When the 
Mexican war broke out, he volunteered and went into the army, 
but did not remain long. In 1852, he became the owner of the 
Franklin Examiner, and published that for a year. In the same 
year he was elected County Auditor, and served four years. 
During the time, he studied law, and after being admitted was 
elected to the ofiice of District Attorney, which he held for two 
years. 

When the war of the rebellion came on, he raised a com- 
pany, and was commissioned its Captain. He made a good 
soldier, and was given a Major's commission for meritorious con- 
duct. In a Shenandoah Valley battle he was killed, and his 
remains lie in the Franklin Cemetery, without a suitable monu- 
ment to mark his last resting-place. Jonathan H. Williams never 
met with much success as a lawyer. 

Many others have been admitted to the Johnson County bar 
since those whose names are mentioned, but they are all living 
and belong to a younger generation than those. It will be time 
enough to write of them when the next historical sketch of the 
bar of Johnson County is written. 




100 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

OFFICIAL REGISTER. 

The following is a partial list of the names of those who 
have served as district and county officers in Johnson County, 
The list is imperfect. Treasurers, Assessors, Surveyors and 
other officials have at one time or other in the past, held their 
offices by appointment from the Commissioners or from the Asso- 
ciate Judges, and it not infrequently happens that no record of 
appointment can be found. 

The character 1 attached to a name signifies died in office ; 
2, resigned ; 3, appointed ; 4, abandoned office. 

A list of the names of certain State officials is also given. 



GOVERNORS OF INDIANA. 

TERKITORIAL GOVERNORS. 



Arthur St. Clair, Governor Northwest 
Territory. 



William H. Harrison lf<00 to 1812 

Thomas Posey 1812 to 1816 



STATE G0"\' 

Jonathan Jennings 1816 to 1819 

Second term 1819 to 1822 

William Hendricks 1822 to 1825 

James B. Ray (acting) Feby, 1825 

James B. Ray 1825 to 1828 

Second term 1828 to 1831 

Noah Noble 1831 to 1834 

Second term 1834 to 1837 

David Wallace 1837 to 1840 

Samuel Bigger 1840 to 1843 

.Tames Whitcomb 1843 to 1846 

Second term (2) 1846 to 1848 

Paris C. Dunning(acting).1848 to 1849 



Joseph A. Wright 1849 (o 1853 

Second term 1853 to 1857 

vishbel P. Willard (1) 1857 to 1859 

Abram A. Hammond 1859 to 1861 

Henry S. Lane (a few 

days)(2) ....I860 

Oliver P. Morton(acting) 1861 to 1865 
Oliver P. Morton (2)....^. .1865 to 1867 
Conrad Baker (acting)... 186 7 to 1869 

Conrad Baker 1869 to 1873 

Thomas A. Hendricks 1873 to 1877 

James D. Williams (1) 1877 to 1881 

Isaac P. Gray (a few days) 1880 

Albert G. Porter 1881 to 



LIEUTENANT GOVERNORS. 



Christopher Harrison 1816 to 1819 

Ratliife Boone 1819 to 1825 

John H. Thompson 1825 to 1828 

Milton Stapp 1828 to 1831 

David Wallace 1831 to 1837 

David Hillis 1837 to 1840 

Samuel Hall 1840 to 1843 

Jesse D. Bright (2) 1843 to 1845 

Godlove S. Orth (acting) 1845 

James G. Read (acting) 1846 

Paris C. Dunning ...1846 to 1848 

James G. Pi,ead (acting) 1849 



James H. Lane 1849 to 1852 

Ashbel P. Willard 1853 to 1857 

Abram A. Hammond 1857 to 1859 

John R. Cravens (acting) 1859 to 1863 
Paris C. I)unning(acting)1863 to 1865 

Conrad Baker 1865 to 1867 

Will Cumback (acting). ..1867 to 1869 

Will Cumback 1869 to 1873 

Leonidas Sexton 1873 to 1877 

Isaac P. Gray 1877 to 1881 

Thomas B. Hanna 1881 to 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY, 



101 



SECRETARIES OF STATE. 



John Gibson (Territorial) 1800 to 1816 

Robert A. New 1816 to 1825 

William W. Wick 1825 to 1829 

James Morrison 1829 to 1833 

William Sheets 1841 to 1845 

John H. Thompson 1845 to 1849 

Charles H. Test 1849 to 1853 

Nehemiah Hayden 1853 to 1855 

Erasmus B. Collins 1855 to 1857 

Daniel IMcChire 1857 to 1858 

Cyrus L. Dunham .1858 to 1859 



Daniel McClure 1859 to 1861 

William A. Peele 1861 to 1868 

James S. Athon 1863 to 1865 

Nelson Trusler 1865 to 1869 

Max F. A. Hoffman 1869 to 1871 

Norman Eddy ...1871 to 1872 

John H. Farquahar 1872 to 1873 

William AV. Curry 1873 to 1875 

John E. Neff 1875 to 1879 

J. Gilbert Shanklin 1879 to 1881 

E. R. Hawn 1881 



AUDITORS OF STATE. 



William H. Lilly 1816 to 1829 

Morris Morris 1829 to 1844 

Horatio J. Harris 1844 to 1847 

Douglas McGuire 1847 to 1850 

Erastus W. H. Ellis 1850 to 1853 

John P. Dunn 1853 to 1855 

Hiram E. Talbott 1855 to 1857 

John W. Dodd 1857 to 1861 

Albert Lange 1861 to 1863 



Joseph Ristine 1863 to 1865. 

Thomas B. McCarty 1865 to 1869 

John D. Evans 1869 to 1871 

John C. Shoemaker 1871 to 1873 

James A. Wildman 1873 to 1875 

Ebenezer Henderson 1875 to 1879' 

Mahlon D. Munson 1879 to 1881 

E. H. Wolfe 1881 



TREASURERS OF STATE. 



Daniel C. Lane 1816 to 1823 

Samuel Merrill 1823 to 1825 

Nathan B. Palmer 1835 to 1841 

George H. Dunn 1841 to 1844 

Royal Mayhew 1844 to 1847 

Samuel Hanna 1847 to 1850 

James P. Drake 1850 to 1853 

Elijah Newland 1863 to 1855 

Wm. B. Noffsinger 1855 to 1857 

Aquilla Jones 1857 to 1859 



Nathaniel F.Cunningham,1859 to 1861 
Jonathan S. Harvey .1861 to 1863 

Matthew L. Brett 1863 to 1865 

John I. Morrison 1865 to 1867 

Nathan Kimball 1868 to 1871 

James B. Ryan 1871 to 1873 

John B. Glover 1873 to 1875 

Ben C. Shaw 1875 to 187& 

William Flemming 1879 to 1881 

Hill 1881 



ATTORNEYS GENERAL. 



James Morrison... .from March 5,1855 
Jos. E. McDonald.. from Dec. 17, 1857 

James G. Jones from Dec. 17, 1859 

John P. Usher from Nov. 10, 1861 

Oscar B. Hord from Nov. 3, 1862 

DelanaE.Williamson.from Nov. 3, 1864 



Bayless W. Hanna. ..from Nov. 3, 1870 

.Tames C. Denny from Nov. 6, 1872 

Clarence C. Buskirk.from Nov. 6, 1874 
Thos. W. Woollen... from Nov. 6, 1878 
Daniel P. Baldwin... from Nov. 6, 188(> 



REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS. 

Second District, 1823 to 1824 Jonathan Jennings. 

Second District, 1825 to 1826 Jonathan .Jennings. 

Second District, 1827 to 1828 Jonathan Jennings. 

Second District, 1829 to l830 Jonathan Jennings. 

Second District, .1831 to 1832 John Carr. 

Sixth District, 1833 to 1834 George S. Kinnard. 

Sixth District, 1835 to 1836 George S. Kinnard. 

(To fill vacancy William Herrod. 



102 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 



Sixth 


District 


1837 


Sixth 


District 


1839 


Sixth 


District 


1841 


Fifth 


District 


1848 


Fifth 


District 


1845 


Fifth 


District 


1847 


Fifth 


District 


1849 


Fifth 


District 


1851 


Sixth 


District 


1853 


Sixth 


District 


1855 


Sixth 


District 


1857 


Sixth 


District 


1859 


Sixth 


District 


1861 


Sixth 


District 


1863 


Sixth 


District 


1865 


Sixth 


District 


1867 


Fifth 


District 


1869 


Fifth 


District 


1871 


Fifth 


District 


1873 


Sixth 


District 


1875 


Sixth 


District 


1877 


Sixth 


District 


1879 


Fifth 


District 


1881 



to 1838 William Herrod. 

to 1840 William W. Wick. 

to 1842 David Wallace. 

to 1844 William J. Brown. 

to 1846 William W. Wick. 

to 1848 William W. Wick. 

to 1850 William J. Brown. 

to 1852 Thomas A. Hendricks. 

to 1854 Thomas A. Hendricks. 

to 1856 Lucien Barbour. 

to 1858 .James M. Gregg. 

to 1860 Albert G. Porter. 

to 1862 Albert G. Porter. 

to 1864 Ebenezer Dumont. 

to 1866 Ebenezer Dumont. 

to 1868 .John Coburn. 

to 1870 John Coburn. 

to 1872 John Coburn. 

to 1874 John Coburn. 

to 1876 Milton Robinson. 

to 1878 Milton Robinson. 

to 1880 William R. Myers. 

C. C. Matson. 



MEMBERS OF INDIANA SENATE. 
Year. Counties. Name. 
1825 Marion, Shelby, Madison, Hamilton, Rush, Hen- 
ry, Decatur and Johnson James Gregory. 

1826 Decatur, Shelby, Morgan and Johnson James Gregory. 

1827 Decatur, Shelby, Morgan and Johnson James Gregory. 

1828 Decatur, Shelby. Morgan and Johnson James Gregory. 

1829 Decatur, Shelby, Morgon and Johnson .James Gregory. 

1830 Decatur, Shelby, Morgan and Johnson James Gregory. 

1831 Johnson and Bartholomew William Herrod. 

1832 Johnson and Bartholomew William Herrod. 

1833 .Johnson and Bartholomew Zach Tannehill. 

1834 Johnson and Bartholomew Zach Tannehill. 

1835 Johnson and Bartholomew Zach Tannehill. 

1836 Johnson John S. Thompson. 

1837 Johnson John S. Thompson. 

1838 Johnson John S. Thompson. 

1839 Johnson Samuel Herriott. 

1840 Johnson Samuel Herriott. 

1841 Johnson Thomas J.Todd. 

1842 Johnson James Richey. 

1843 Johnson James Richey. 

1844 Johnson James Richey. 

1845 Johnson Franklin Hardin. 

1846 Johnson Franklin Hardin. 

1847 Johnson Franklin Hardin. 

1848 Johnson Franklin Hardin. 

1849 Johnson Franklin Hardin. 

1850 Johnson Franklin Hardin. 

1851 Johnson Gilderoy Hicks. 

1853 Johnson John W. Rightly. 

1855 Johnson John W. Kightly. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 108 

Tear. Counties. Name. 

1857 Johnson John Slater. •! 

1858 Johnson (special session) VV. H. Jennings. 

1859 Johnson and Morgan W. II. Jennings. 

1861 Johnson and Morgan Franklin Landers. 

1863 Johnson and Morgan Franklin Landers. 

1865 Johnson and Morgan S. P. Oyler. 

1867 Johnson and Morgan S. P. Oyler. 

1869 Johnson and i\Iorgan Eb Henderson. 

1871 Johnson and Morgan Eb Henderson. 

1873 Johnson and Shelby M. R. Slater. 

1875 Johnson and Shelby M. R. Slater. 

1877 Johnson and Shelby C. B. Tarlton. 

1879 Johnson and Shelby C. P.. Tarlton. 

1881 Johnson and Morgan G. W. Grubbs. 

MEMBERS OF INDIANA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

Year. Counties. Names. 

1824 Marion, Madison, Hamilton and Johnson John Connor. 

1825 Marion, Madison, Hamilton and Johnson .James Paxton. 

1826 Johnson and Shelby Lewis Morgan. 

1827 lohnson and Shelby John Smiley. 

1828 Johnson and Shelby Sylvan B. Morris. 

1829 .Johnson and Shelby Rezin Davis. 

1830 Johnson and Shelby Rezin Davis. 

1831 Johnson John Smiley. 

1832 Johnson Joab Woodruff. 

1833 Johnson Joab WoodruflF. 

1834 Johnson Joab Woodruff. 

1835 Johnson John S. Thompson. 

1836 Johnson .James Lusk. 

1837 Johnson Benj. S. Noble. 

1838 Johnson Berriman Reynolds. 

1839 .Johnson Fabius M. Finch. 

1840 Johnson James Richey. 

1841 Johnson James Richey. 

1842 Johnson Franklin Hardin. 

1843 Johnson Franklin Hardin. 

1844 Johnson Franklin Hardin. 

1845 Johnson Daniel Webb. 

1846 .Johnson Gilderoy Hicks. 

1847 .Johnson Isaiah M. Norris. 

1848 Johnson Gilderoy Hicks. 

1849 Johnson Gilderoy Hicks. 

1850 Johnson Gilderoy Hicks. 

1851 Johnson Samud Eccles. 

1853 .Johnson Royal S. Hicks. 

1855 Johnson Joseph M. King. 

1857 Johnson Dillard Ricketts. 

1859 Johnson Augustus Kiefer. 

1861 Johnson* 0. R. Dougherty. 

1861 Johnson John A. Polk. 

1863 Johnson- T. W. Woollen. 

18'i3 Johnson Achilles V. Pendleton. 

1865 Johnson* Ezra A. Olleman. 

* Joint Johnson and Morgan. ^ 



104 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 



Tear. Counties. Name. 

1866 Johnson Elijah Banta. 

1867 John.son* Ezra A. Olleman. 

1867 Johnson David G. Vawter. 

18C9 .lohnson* William K. Admire. 

1869 Johnson Duncan Montgomery. 

1871 Johnson* Caleb B. Tarlton. 

1871 .Jolmson Duncan Montgomery. 

1873 Johnson Thomas W. Woollen. 

1875 Tohnson V. McFadden. 

1877 Johnson Charles (). Lehman. 

1879 Johnson ("harles 0. Lehman. 

1881 Johnson William H. Barnett. 



PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS. 



Daniel B. Wickf 1823 

Harvey Gregg 1824 

Calvin F^-eteher 1825 

.James Whit comb 1 826 

William W. Wick 1829 

Hiram Brown 1831 

James Gregg 1832 

William Herrod 1834 

William Quarles 1838 

William J. Peaslee 1840 

Hugh O. Neal 1841 

H. H. Barbour 1843 

Abram Hammond 1844 

Edward Lander 1848 

John Ketcham 1848 

David Wallace 1848 



Gabriel M. Overstreet 1849 

David S. Gooding 1851 

Reuben A. Riley 1853 

D. W. Chipman 1855 

Peter .S. Kennedy 1857 

William P. Fishback 1863 

William AV. Leathers 1865 

Joseph S. Miller 1867 

Daniel W. Howe 1869 

Nathaniel T. Carr (2) 1870 

John Morgan (3) 1871 

K M. Hord 1872 

W. «. Ray 1874 

Leonard J. Hackney 1878 

Jacob L. White 



JUDGES OF THE 

William W. Wick 1823 to 1825 

Bethuel F. Morris 1825 to 1834 

William W. Wick 1834 to 1840 

James Morrison 1840 to 1842 

Fabius M. Finch 1842 to 1843 

William J. Peaslee 1843 to 1850 

William W. Wick 2 1850 to 1852 

Stephen Major^ 1852 to 1859 



CIRCUIT COURT. 

William W. Wicki 1859 to 1859 

Fabius M. Einch 1859 to 1865 

John Coburn^ 1865 to 1866 

Cyrus C. Hines* 1866 to 1869 

Samuel P. Oyler 1869 to 1870 

David D. Banta 1870 to 1876 

Kendall M. Hord 1876 



ASSOCIATE JUDGES CIRCUIT COURT. 

Israel Watts 1823 to 1830 I Robert Moore 1837 to 1844 

Daniel Boaz 1823 to 1837 James Fletcher 1843 to 1845 

William Keaton 1830 to 1835 John R. Carver 1844 to 1851 

James R.Alexander 1835 to 1843 .John Wilson 1845 to 1851 



PROBATE JUDGES. 

Israel Watts 1830 to 1837 I Bartholomew Applegate..! 844 to 1851 

John Smiley 1837 to 1844 [ Peter Voris J1851 to 1852 



* Joint Johnson and Morgan. 

fThe term of office of each began in the year set opposite to his name. Many of these offi- 
cials, as was ttie case with other ofSoials of the county, held ofBce more than one term in suc- 
cession. 

J Court abolished. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 



105 



COMMON PLEAS JUDGES. 



Franklin Hardin 1853 to 1860 

George A. Buskirk 1860 to 1864 

Oliver J. Glessner 1864 to 1868 



Thomas VV. Woollen^ 1868 to 1870 

Richard Cotfey *1870 to 1871 



S. 0. W. Garrett. 
S. P. Oyler. 
Jonathan H. Williams. 
D. D. Banta. 
John Montgomery. 



DISTRICT ATTORNEYS.! 

Jacob S. Broadwell. 
D. D. Banta. 
James Harrison. 
J. H. Reeves. 
George W. Workman. 



COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.j 

FIRST DISTRICT. 



James Gillaspy 1838 to 1842 

James Wiley 1842 to 1844 

James Gillaspy2 1844 to 1847 

David Forsyth 1847 to 1851 

Wilson Allen 1851 to 1856 

George Botsford^ 1856 to 1858 

Reason Slack^ 1858 to 1860 



C. R. Ragsdale 1860 to 1865 

George B. White 1865 to 1870 

N. S. Branigan 1870 to 1872 

Warren Coleman 1872 to 1875 

Ransom Riggs 1875 to 1878 

Joseph Jenkins 1878 



SECOND DISTRICT. 



William G. Jones 1838 to 1839 

Daniel Covert 1839 to 1843 

Peter Shuck 1843 to 1846 

Austin Jacobs 1846 to 1848 

Peter Shuck 1848 to 1849 

Samuel MagilP 1849 to 1850 

Melvin Wheat 1850 to 1858 



Milton Utter 1858 to 1861 

James M. Alexander 1861 to 1865 

Peter Shuck 1865 to 1870 

William J. Mathes 1870 to 1873 

John Kerlin 1873 to 1876 

Peter Demaree 1876 to 1879 

William H. Shuck 1879 



THIRD DISTRICT. 



Archibald Glenn 1838 to 1838 

James Ritchey 1838 to 1841 

Samuel Eccles^ 1841 to 1851 

Jacob Comingore* 1851 to 1854 

Joseph Harmon 1854 to 1859 



Moses Parr 1859 to 1862 

James F. Wiley 1862 to 1874 

John Clore 1874 to 1877 

Robert Jennings 1877 



CIRCUIT COURT CLERKS. 



Samuel Herriott* .1823 to 1839 

David Allen 1839 to 1844 

Isaac Jone«i 1844 to 1847 

David Allen 1847 to 1847 

R. S. Hicks^ 1847 to 1850 



Jncob Sibert 1850 to 1855 

William H. Barnett 1855 to 1865 

John W. Wilson 1865 to 1871 

Isaac M. Thompson 1871 to 1879 

Thomas Hardin 1879 



APPRAISERS REAL ESTATE. 

Thomas Williams IS'IO I Peter Shuck 1850 

Jacob Sibert |1846 | 

*C ourt abolished. 

fTho persons whose names are herewith given are known to have served as prosecutors in 
the Common Pleas Court, and in the order herewith given as far as can now be ascertained, but 
dates cannot be given with any certainty. 

JNames of those constituting Board of Justices and of Commissioneri up to 1839, elsewhere 
given. 

^Office abolished and work given to township officers. 



106 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 



COUNTY TREASURERS. 



Joseph Young 1823 to 1827 

John Adams 1828 to 1836 

Robert Gilcrees 1836 to 1841 

Madison Vandiver2 1841 to 1842 

William C. Jones 1842 to 1843 

William F. Johns^ 1843 to 1844 

William Bridges 2 1844 to 1850 

Henry Fox^ 1850 to 1858 

William H. Jennings 1853 to 1856 



Jacob F. McClellan 1856 to 

John Herriott 1861 to 

Hascall N. Pinney 1868 to 

William S. Ragsdale 1865 to 

John W. Wilson (died be- 
fore term commenced) 

George Cutsinger 1869 to 

John W. Ragsdale 1874 to 

George W. Gilchrist 1878 



1861 
1863 
1866 
1869 



1874 
1878 



SHERIFFS. 



John Smiley 1828 to 1827 

Joab Woodruff. 1827 to 1831 

John Thompson 1831 to 1835 

David Allen 1835 to 1839 

Isaac Jones 1839 to 1841 

Unknown 1841 to 1842 

Austin Jacobs^ 1842 to 1844 

Samuel Hall*, John Jack- 

son^, Wm. C. Jones' *1844 

David Allen 1844 to 1845 



Robert Johnson, Nixon 

Hughes and Wm. Bridges 1847 

William H. Jennings 1847 to 1851 

H. L. McClellan 1851 to 1855 

Noah Perry 1855 to 1857 

Eli Butler 1857 to 1861 

John W. Higgins 1861 to 1865 

William W. Owens 1865 to 1869 

Robert Gillaspy 1869 to 1873 

James H. Pudney 1873 to 1877 

William Neal 1877 



COUNTY AUDITORS. 



Jacob Sibertf 1841 to 1846 

Jonathan H. Williams 1851 to 1855 

George W. Allison 1855 to 1859 

Elijah Bennett 1859 to 1863 



William H. Barnett 1868 to 1871 

E. N. Woollen 1871 to 1875 

W. C. Bice 1875 to 1879 

W. B. Jennings 1879 



COUNTY ASSESSORS. 



William C. Jones 1840 

James Hughes 1841 

Daniel McClain 1843 

David R. McGaughey* 1844 

John Ritchey* 1844 



Jeremiah M. Woodruff. 1846 

Malcolm M. Crow 1848 

Fortunatus C. Buchanan 1850 

Hume Sturgeon J1851 



COLLECTORS OF COUNTY REVENUE. 



Robert Gilcrees 1826 to 1827 

Joab Woodruff (Sheriff).. .1827 to 1831 
John Thompson (Sheriff)..1831 to 1835 



David Allen (Sheriff) 1835 to 1838 

Hiram T. Craig 1838 to 1839 

Arthur Mullikin §1839 to 1840 



RECORDERS. 



Willet Tyler 1863 to 1867 

Jacob Peggs 1867 to 1875 

George W. Demaree 1875 to 1879 

J. R. Clemmer 1879 



William Shaffer 1823 to 1836 

Pierson Murphy 1836 to 1843 

Thomas Alexander* 1843 to 1844 

Jacob Peggs 1844 to 1859 

William S. Ragsdale 1859 to 1863 

*Great confusion geems to have existed from 1844 to 1851 in the Sheriff's ofBce. AH the persona 
named seem to have served during that interval. 

fBusiness transferred to Clerk's oflfice by Act of Legislature. 
tOffice abolished, and work given to township officers. 
^Office consolidated with County Treasurers. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 



107 



COUNTY SURVEYORS. 

The following persons are known to have .served 
mainly from memory 



The list is made up 



James H. Wishard. 
Thomas Williams. 
Franklin Hardie. 
John S. Hougham. 
Hiram Graves. 
G. M. Overstreet. 



P. K. Parr. 
William W. Hubbard. 
Joseph J. Moore. 
William M. Elliott. 
Wilson T. Hougham. 
David A. Leach. 



CORONER. 



This has been a county office from the beginning, but there 
are no records or other sources of information accessible which 
would afford aid in the compilation of the names of the persons 
who have held the office. 




108 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY, 



CHAPTER XV. 

BLUE RIVER TOWNSHIP. 

About the year 1814, John Campbell, a young man, left his 
native State, Tennessee, to find a home north of the Ohio. Fate 
directed his footsteps to the vicinity of Waynesville, in that State, 
where he married Ruth Perkins, who was born near Columbia, 
S. C, but was living at the time with an aunt. In 1817, he 
moved to Connersville, and, in 1820, he moved to the New Pur- 
chase, reaching Blue River near the present site of Edinburg 
on the 4th of March of that year. His wife and four sons 
accompanied him, and four little girls were left behind, but after- 
ward came through on horseback. Benjamin Crews helped him 
to drive his team and stock through to Blue River. The road 
which they cut out must have been the most primitive of paths, 
for two years after, when Alexander Thompson, Israel Watts and 
William Runnells came over the same general route, they found 
a wagon road to the Flat Rock Creek, south of Rushville, but from 
there on they had to cut their own way. 

Campbell settled on a tract of land lying immediately south of 
the present site of Edinburg, while Benjamin Crews, who at 
once returned to Connersville for his own family, stopped on the 
south side of the county line. A little cabin was presently 
erected in the woods, and the venturesome Campbell set about 
the preparations for a crop of corn, and patiently awaited the 
arrival of neighbors. But he did not have to wait very long. 
The great Indian trail led from the Kentucky River through this 
township, and Richard Berry had come out upon it and located 
in the edge of Bartholomew County, at the mouth of Sugar 
Creek, and established a ferry. His place was known far and 
near. It is said that a half-dozen or more families followed 
Campbell into the Blue River woods the same spring, but there 
is much uncertainty at this time, as to this ; but it is certain that 
there was, during the year, a larger accession to Campbell's set- 
tlement. The lands, since incorporated into Blue River Town- 
ship, were surveyed in August of that year by John Hendricks, 
a Government Surveyor, and on the 4th day of October, these 
lands were first exposed for sale at the land office in Brookville. 
That day, three purchases were made of Blue River lands, and 
the first in the county, by James Jacobs, William W. Robinson, 
and John Campbell (of Sugar Creek), while on the day following, 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTS. 109 

nine purchases were made by the following persons : Zachariah 
Sparks, John Campbell (the first settler), Alexander Thompson, 
Thomas Ralston, Amos Durbin, Jonathan Lyon, Isaac Wilson, 
Robert Wilson, and Francis Brock. There were thirty-nine 
entries in all made before the close of the year, making a total of 
4,400 acres, and of these entries eighteen were of quarter-sec- 
tions, and the remainder of eighty-acre tracts. 

In so far as is now known, eighteen families moved into the 
new settlement in 1820, and of these Henry Cutsinger, Simon 
Shaffer, Jesse Dawson, Zachariah Sparks, Elias Brock, Joseph 
Townsend were Kentuckians ; William Williams, and, as already 
said, John Campbell, were Tennesseeans ; Amos Durbin was from 
Virginia ; John A. Mow and Joshua Palmer, from Ohio ; Isaac 
Marshal and John Wheeler, from North Carolina ; Samuel Her- 
riott, from Pennsylvania, while Louis Bishop, Thomas Ralston 
and Richard Connor's natal places are unknown. 

The new settlement was auspiciously begun, and had a remarka- 
ble growth for its day. The hardships that usually attended the 
backwoodsmen of their times, fell to their lot, and it is remem- 
bered that death made an inroad into the settlement, carrying off 
that fall, first the wife of Joseph Townsend, and next, Richard 
Connor. When John Williams came to Bartholomew County in 
September, 1820, with his father, he visited Campbell, and, at 
that time, Joseph Townsend was living in a cabin next the hill 
whereon stands Mr. John Thompson's residence. When his wife 
died, Allen Williams knocked the back out of his kitchen cup- 
board, and, with the lumber thus obtained, made her a coffin. 
She and also Richard Connor lie buried in the hill west of town, 
but their immediate places of sepulture are forgotten. Mrs. 
Townsend was, it is believed, the first white person who died 
within the township, and also in the county. 

The second year of the settlement, twenty-seven families are 
known to have moved in. John Adams came from Kentucky 
and moved to the north end of the township, and founded the 
Adams neighborhood. Richard Foster and John and William, 
his brothers, Patrick Adams, Patrick Cowan, Arthur Robinson, 
Curtis Pritchard, David Webb, William R. Hensly, William C. 
Robinson, James Farrell, John Adams, John P. Barnett, Jacob 
Cutsinger. Isaac Harvey (a Baptist preacher), Lewis Hays, 
William Rutherford, Jefferson D. Jones, Thomas Russell and 
Samuel Aldridge, all Kentuckians ; and Isaac Collier, Israel 
Watts and Jonathan Hougham, Ohioans ; and Alexander Thomp- 
son, from Virginia ; Jesse Wells and Thomas Doan, from North 
Carolina, and William Runnells, from Tennesee, moved in. By 



110 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

the close of this year, the lands contiguous to Blue River were 
taken up, and a line of settlement extended nearly across the 
south side of the township, while John Campbell, an Irishman, 
had laid the foundation of a settlement at the mouth of Sugar 
Creek, and Louis Hays and William Rutherford had joined John 
Adams' settlement higher up the creek. 

In 1822, fourteen families moved in. Of these Able Webb, 
James Connor, Hezekiah Davison, William Hunt, James M. Dan- 
iels, John Shipp, William Barnett, David Durbin, Hiram Ald- 
ridge and Thomas Russell were from Kentucky. Charles Martin 
and Samuel Umpstead were from Ohio, and it is not ascertained 
whence came Baker Wells and Samuel Johnson, who came 
in this year. In 1823, William Freeman moved from Bartholo- 
mew County into the township, and Richard Shipp and John Ilen- 
drickson also moved in. All these were Kentucky born. By the 
close of 1823, there were at least sixty-three families living in the 
township. 

It is uncertain when the town of Edinburg was laid out, but, 
from all the evidence that has been adduced, it would seem that 
it could not have been later than in the spring of 1822. It is 
hard to reconcile this date with certain records in existence, but 
so many of the old men during the past fifteen years have as- 
serted their confidence in a date not later than the one given, that 
it would seem to be safe to follow it. Louis Bishop and Alexan- 
der Thompson were the projectors of the place. They early saw 
that a town would be a necessity to the country which was des- 
tined to grow up about them within a few years, and determined 
that the necessity should be supplied on the banks of the Blue 
River. This was the center of a thriving settlement. The lands 
surrounding it for many miles were of the finest quality, and the 
"rapids " in Blue River offered a splendid mill site, and so the 
town was located. 

If the date of its location is uncertain the origin of the name 
is equally so. One account attributes it to a circumstance too 
trifling for historical belief. It is said that, on the evening of the 
day the new town was platted, Edward Adams, a brother-in-law 
of Bishop, "a good easy soul," familiarly known by the dimin- 
utive, "Eddie," having been encouraged by a too frequent use of 
the bottle, to demand some recognition, asked that the new 
town be named in honor of himself, and that, by common con- 
sent, the place was named Eddiesburg, and that, in a short time, 
it took on the statelier name of Edinburg. That it was under- 
stood at the time by many that the name was in some manner 
connected with Edward Adams, there can be no doubt, but there 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. Ill 

is other, and I think better, authority that the name was given 
by Alexander Thompson, who was a Scotchman by birth, in mem- 
ory of the capital of his native country. In the first records 
which we have, the name is spelled with over-exactness, '' Eding- 
burg," an orthography which scarcely could have grown out of 
Eddiesburg in its transition state to Edinburg. 

The new town had a recognition from the start. Booth & 
Newby, merchants in Salem, Ind., determined on opening a 
stock of goods suitable to the wants of the backwoods, at some 
point in the Blue River country, and selected Edinburg as the 
place. Alexander Thompson was accordingly employed to build 
them a suitable storeroom for the purpose, which he did in 1822. 
This house was built about eighty feet south of Main cross, on Main 
street, and. in the fall of the year, William R. Hensly, agent for Booth 
& Newby, brought a boat-load of goods up the Blue River to the 
mouth of Sugar Creek, and, "on a Sunday, the boys" went down 
and carried his goods up to the store on their shoulders. This 
was the first stock of goods exposed for sale in both township and 
county. 

While Thompson was building the new stone house, Isaac Col- 
lier, William Hunt and Patrick Cowen were erecting dwelling- 
houses on Main street, and John Adams one on Main street cross. 
Collier soon after set up a blacksmith-shop, the first in the coun- 
ty, and Louis Bishop opened the first tavern. 

" In the fall of 1822," says Ambrose Barnett, "the place con- 
tained four families, whose log cabins were scattered over a con- 
siderable tract of ground in the midst of the native forest trees." 

In May, 1826, Thomas Carter was licensed by the Board of 
Justices of the county to keep a tavern, and the next March, Pat- 
rick Cowen received the like privilege, and in May following 
Louis Bishop again took out a license. About this time, one David 
Stip, also appears as a tavern-keeper. 

How long Booth & Newby continued in the mercantile business 
is uncertain, but in July, 1826, Gwin & Washburn, and also Israel 
Watts went into the business, and in July, 1828, George B. Hol- 
land likewise. 

In 1832, Austin Shipp and Timothy Threlkeld were licensed 
to vend merchandise, and the same year, Simon Abbott, in addi- 
tion to the right to retail "foreign and domestic goods," added 
"spirituous liquors," also. 

The location of Edinburg was unfavorable to good order during 
the early years of its existence. It soon became a common ren- 
dezvous for the hard drinking and evil disposed from all the sur- 
rounding country, and it was an easy matter for the law-breakers 



112 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

to mount their horses and flee across the line into Bartholomew 
or Shelby Counties, and then defy the pursuing Constables. Some 
time in 1830, a man by the name of Jesse Cole was killed in a 
drunken row in the town, and not long after, Lunsford Jones and 
John Frazier had a quarrel while in their cups, but renewing their 
friendship the same day. set out for their homes after nightfall. 
Both were intoxicated, and while crossing the river, Jones lost his 
seat and was drowned, while his horse went home.. Frazier was 
suspected of having somehow brought about Jones' death, but the 
fact was never proven against him. Frazier was a desperado of 
the worst type. In 1838, he and one Valentine Lane had a diffi- 
culty at Foster's Mill, when Lane chastised him personally. 
Thereupon, Frazier left, and arming himself, returned, and renew- 
ing the fight, he stabbed his antagonist till he died. 

In August, 1840, Frazier maltreated his wife, so that she was 
compelled to leave him and swear out a peace warrant against him. 
Being arrested and on his way to Edinburg, he passed the house 
of Allen Stafford, where his wife was staying, and obtained leave 
to stop and talk with her. On stepping out of the door, as he 
requested her to do, he struck her a blow with his knife, inflict- 
ing a wound from which she ultimately died. Then he stabbed 
himself, but not fatally. Being put to his trial, he was sentenced 
to fourteen years in the penitentiary, and Isaac Jones, who was 
then Sheriff", and his brother William C. Jones and Elias Voris, 
conducted him to Jefiersonville, where he, too, soon died. On their 
way home they passed through Salem, and there they got in a 
quarrel with a party of strangers, when Voris, who was a very 
powerful man, whipped the crowd. Warrants were then put out 
by the civil authorities for the arrest of Voris and the Joneses, when 
they fled the place, but by some means Voris became separated 
from his companions. The strangers pursued and overtook him, 
and most foully murdered him in the woods, severing his head 
from his body. They in turn made their escape. 

In 1827, James Thompson availed himself of the splendid water 
power on Blue River, opposite the town, and took steps to secure 
the right of erecting a mill at that place. A jury was summoned, 
under the law, one of whom. Thomas Barnett, is still living. The 
condemnation was made, and Thompson built a grist and saw mill. 
This enterprise was not only an immediate benefit to the place, 
but in the hands of the Thompson family has ever since been a 
source of strength to the town. 

Other mills were afterward built. Both Blue River and Sugar 
Creek are well adapted to mill purposes in the township. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 113 



CHAPTER XVI. 

NINEVEH TOWNSHIP. 

Nineveh Township is one of the oldest townships in the county, 
having been organized the same spring the county government 
was inaugurated. 

In the spring of 1821, Amos Durbin, who was from Kentucky, 
settled over on the east side, and thus became the pioneer settler 
of the township. 

In the fall of the same year, Robert Worl, an Ohio man, floated 
down the Ohio River to some point on the Indiana side, and 
thence picked his way to the New Purchase, mostly by the Indian 
trace. Reaching the Blue River settlement, he journeyed on and 
arrived on the Nineveh in the month of September, and built him 
a cabin about a mile east of the present town of Williamsburg, 

In 1822, eleven new men are known to have come in. On the 
15th of March, Joab Woodruff and William Strain came from 
Ohio, and as they passed through the Blue River settlement, their 
old neighbor, Ben Crews, picked up and came over with them. 
Henry Burkhart and George, his brother, from Kentucky, settled 
in the north side, on the Indian trail, and left the Burkhart name 
in Burkhart's Creek. Adam Lash is set down as coming that 
year, and also Daniel and Henry Mussulman, and James Dunn, 
from Kentucky, and David Trout, from Virginia, and John S. 
Miller, from North Carolina. 

The next year, James and William Gillaspy, William Spears, 
Curtis Pritchard, Louis Pritchard and Richard Perry, Ken- 
tuckians, and Jeremiah Dunham, an Ohioan, and Elijah Dellart, 
from North Corolina, moved in. 

In 1824, Robert Moore and Aaron Dunham, of Ohio, arrived, 
and Isaac Walker, Perry Baily, George Baily, Joseph Thompson 
and Robert Forsyth, all from Kentucky. Forsyth was delayed 
at the driftwood by high water, but when he did cross, Mrs. 
Nancy Forsyth, his wife, mounted upon the back of a horse, with 
a bag of meal under her, rode out to their new home, carrying her 
child, James P., who was two years old, in her arms, and he car- 
ried a house-cat in his. It was late when they reached their 
place, but John S. Miller, Henry Mussulman and some others 
"whirled in " and helped to clear four acres of corn ground, on 
which a fair crop of corn was raised, and the bean vines grew so 
luxuriantly that they mounted into the lower branches of the trees. 



114 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

The year before that, David Trout was prostrated by a long and 
severe sickness, but his neighbors did not neglect him. On stated 
days they met at his place, and his corn was planted and plowed 
with as much care as any man's in the neighborhood. 

In 1825, Daniel Pritchard, John Parkhurst, William Irving 
and Amos Mitchel, from Kentucky, and Jesse Young, from Ohio, 
moved in ; and, in the year following, came Thomas Elliott, Pret- 
tyman Burton, William Keaton, Clark Tucker, Daniel Hutto, John 
Hall, John Elliott, all Kentuckians, and Thomas GriflBth, Samuel 
Griffith, Richard Wheeler, James McKane, James and John 
Wylie, Ohioans. 

In 1827, of those who came, John Kindle, Aaron Burget and 
the Calvins — James, Luke, Thomas and Hiram — Milton Mc- 
Quade, John Dodd, Robert Works and, as is supposed, George 
Harger and Jeremiah Hibbs, are all believed to have been from 
Ohio, and James Mullikin, David Forsyth and James Hughes, 
from Kentucky. The next year, Joseph Featheringill, Gabriel 
Givens, Mrs. Sarah Mathes and James White came, followed by 
Hume Sturgeon, in 1829, and by Walter Black, David Dunham, 
John Wilks and Aaron Burget, in 1830. Sturgeon was from 
Kentucky, Mrs. Mathes from Virginia, and the others from Ohio, 
save Black, whose native place is uncertain. 

It is not pretended that these were all the men who moved into 
Nineveh up to the last year mentioned, nor is it claimed that the 
true date is given in every instance. The list and dates are only 
approximately correct. 

The first election held in Nineveh Township was at the house 
of John Henry, in August, 1823, and nineteen votes were polled, 
but as all the territory comprised in the present townships of 
Franklin, Union and Hensley, as well as Nineveh proper, com- 
prised Nineveh then, and as some voters came from Sugar 
Creek to vote, these nineteen votes do not measure the strength 
of Nineveh at that time. On the 25th of September, 1825, an 
election was held for the election of a Justice, at the house of 
Daniel Mussulman, and thirty-nine votes were cast. Of these, 
David Durbin received twenty, and Jesse Young, nineteen. On 
the 12th of November following, another election for Justice was 
held at the same place, when thirty-one votes were cast, Joab 
.Woodruff receiving twenty-four, and Edward Ware, seven. In 
1827, at an election for Justice, Curtis Pritchard and Amos Dur- 
bin were voted for, and each received nineteen votes, and there- 
upon lots were cast, and Pritchard was declared elected. In 
1821, the like thing happened in White River Township, Arch- 
ibald Glenn and Nathaniel Bell each receiving seventeen votes 
for Justice. Lots were cast and Glenn won. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 115 

The early residents of Nineveh were fairly divided between 
Ohio and Kentucky men. While the Kentuckians constituted a 
majority in nearly every township, there were but few Ohioans 
in any one save Nineveh. 

Williamsburg, laid out by Daniel Mussulman, was, during its 
infancy, a rival of Edinburg. Joab Woodruff brought an assort- 
ment of dry goods to his house and sold them at an early date in 
the township's history, and, in 1830, the record of the Board of 
Justices shows that Daniel Mussulman was licensed to vend for- 
eign and domestic groceries, and that Woodruff held a license to 
sell at the same time. In 1831, Henry Mussulman procured a 
license to keep a grocery, and, in the next year, A. H. Scroggins 
& Co. went into the mercantile business in the place. Glancing 
along the pages of the old records, the further fact is dis- 
closed that, in 1838, Thomas Mullikin was licensed to vend " do- 
mestic and foreign merchandise," and, in the year following, 
James Mills obtained a permit to sell whisky and dry goods. 

The first church organized in the township was at the house of 
Daniel Mussulman, by Elder Mordecai Cole, a Baptist preacher, 
and it was named the " Nineveh Church." 

It is probable that Aaron Dunham taught the first school, soon 
after he came, in 1824. In 1826. Benjamin Bailey was teach- 
ing in a cabin with an earthen floor, near the Vickerman place. 

In 1831, William Vickerman moved in, and built the first 
wool-carding factory that was successfully run in the county. 

The first death in the township was a little child of Daniel 
Mussulman, that was burned to death. Shortly after, James 
Dunn and Nancy Pritchard both died ; and in twenty-two months 
after the arrival of Thomas Griffith, on the 21st of October, 1826, 
he died, leaving a widow with a family of little children. Grif- 
fith was the first blacksmith in the township. 

About half the original settlers of Nineveh Township were 
Ohioans ; the others were mainly Kentuckians. Nineveh was 
the Ohio settlement of the countv. 




116 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP. 

In 1822, in the first half of the year, as is supposed, William 
Burkhart, from Green County, Ky., and Levi Moore, built the 
first cabins in Franklin Township. They came by the way of 
the Indian trail, and Burkhart built his cabin on the banks of 
the little creek, where Michael Canary afterward lived and died, 
while Moore went out as far as the Big Spring, and then turning 
to the east, located at the knoll, a few hundred yards west of 
Young's Creek, where John McCaslin's house stands. Moore 
afterward moved to the farm now owned by Aaron Legrange, and 
there built a mill, the third built in the township ; but he moved 
to a newer country within a few years, leaving an unsavory repu- 
tation behind him. Moore's Creek commemorates his name. 

In the spring of 1823, George King, Simon Covert and David 
W. McCaslin, accompanied by Isaac Voris, a young man, moved 
from Kentucky, and began clearings near the mouth of Camp 
Creek, or, as it afterward came to be known, Covert's Creek, after 
which, it took its present name of Hurricane. There was no 
road cut out beyond John Adams' place, now Amity, and the 
movers being joined by Robert Gilchrist, " bushed " the way out 
to their future home. On the afternoon of a day in March, they 
reached Camp Creek ; but finding the stream high, and not 
knowing the fords, they encamped for the night on the high 
ground, where stand the college buildings. All returned to 
Adams, save Covert and Voris, who, when night came, milked 
the cows, milking into and drinking out of the cow bells that had 
been brought for use in the range. The next morning, the pil- 
grims crossed over the turbulent stream, and at once began the 
work of. building King's cabin on a knoll west of the present 
crossing of the Cincinnati & Martinsville Railroad and Jefferson 
street. That being up, McCaslin's was built on the south side of 
Young's Creek, and Covert's on the east side of the Hurricane. 

During the following summer, Franklin was laid out, and made 
ready for settlers ; but it was not until the spring after that a 
house was built within the plat. At that time, a man named 
Kelly put up a house on the west side of the square, and kept a 
few articles in the grocery line for sale, chief among which seems 
to have been an odd sort of beer and cakes. He was for some 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 117 

reason unable to get whisky, and, at the end of a year he left 
and went to Indianapolis. 

In the summer of 1824, William Shaffer built the court house, 
and, in the fall, he built himself a house on the southeast corner 
of the square. The same year, John Smiley put up a log house 
of two stories, on the northwest corner of Main and Jefferson 
streets, where Wood's drug store now is, and moving into it the 
same year he hung out a " tavern sign." At the same time, a 
cabin was put up adjoining Smiley's house on the west, and into 
this Daniel Tayloi', from Cincinnati, brought a stock of dry 
goods and groceries. Edward Springer, that year or the next, 
built and operated the first smithy in the township on the west 
side of the square. In 1825 or 1826, Joseph Young and Samuel 
Herriott, partners in business, erected the first frame building in 
the town and township, near to Shaffer's house ; and, in the south 
side, a tavern was opened under the immediate supervision of 
Young ; and in the north side was opened a general store under 
the care of Herriott. In 1828, George King built a brick house 
on Main street, in which he lived until his death, in 1869. The 
somewhat elaborate beadwork on the door and window casing, 
which many will remember, was cut out by the carpenters with 
pocket-knives. Among the early settlers was Thomas Williams, 
who came in 1823 or 1824 ; John K. Powell, a hatter ; Caleb 
Vannoy, a tanner ; Pierson Murphy and James Ritchey, phy- 
sicians ; Fabius M. Finch and Gilderoy Hicks, lawyers ; Samuel 
Headly and Samuel Lambertson, tailors. 

In another place (Chap. VII) is an account of the drift of set- 
tlement in Franklin Township, and it only remains to add such 
of the names of the pioneer settlers as the memories of those car- 
ing to impart their knowledge will give. In 1825, Moses Free- 
man, Daniel Covert, Joseph A^oris, Thomas Henderson and, prob- 
ably, John Davis, moved into and not far from the Covert 
neighborhood, at the Big Spring, near Hopewell. Henry Byers 
settled near the west side, and about the same time Joseph Hunt 
came in by Burkhart's, and Isaac Beeson over on Sugar Creek. 
John Smiley, in 1822, had settled on the same creek and had 
built a mill. John Mozingo and Squire Hendricks were living 
on the east side, as heretofore stated. 

The same year Franklin was located, Cyrus Whetzel ran a 
line and marked it, with a compass, through the woods from the 
Bluffs to the new town, and in 1824 the Bluff road was cut out, 
and this afforded movers easy access to the northwest parts of the 
township. In 1825, Isaac Vannuys, Stephen Luyster and David 
Banta moved in, and, the year after, Peter Legrangeand his sons,. 



118 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

Peter D. and Aaron, all then settled in what is now known as the 
Hopewell neighborhood. Following, at intervals, during the next 
few years, we find coming into the same vicinity John Voris, Simon 
Vanarsdall, Zachariah Ransdall, Cornelius Covert, Melvin Wheat, 
John P. Banta, John Bergen, Peter Demaree, Samuel Vannuys, 
Theodore List, Stephen Whitenack, Joseph Combs, Thomas 
Roberts and Peter Banta. On the south and west sides and south- 
west corner of the township, we find that Thomas Mitchel, 
Michael Canary, Robert McAuly, Jacob Demaree, Ebenezer Per- 
ry, James Forsyth, came in quite early, and then passing up the 
south side are the names of Major Townsend, John D. Mitchel, 
John Gratner, Joseph Ashly, John Harter, Alexander McCas- 
lin, James McCaslin, John C. Goodman, John Gribben, and 
Jonathan Williams. In the central and northern parts were Wm. 
Magill, Garrett Bergen, Peter A. Banta, Milton Utter, the White- 
sides brothers — Henry, James, John and William — and Stephen 
and Lemuel Tilson, Thomas J. Mitchel, John Brown, Elisha Dun- 
gan, Edward Crow, David McCaslin, Harvey McCaslin, Robert Jef- 
frey, John Herriott, Middleton Waldren, Therrett Devore, Travis 
Burnett, David Berry, Jesse Williams, Simon Moore, John High, 
Samuel Overstreet, John Wilson, David, Thomas and George 
Alexander, William and Samuel Allison and John Wilson ; while 
upon the east side, in addition to those mentioned in Chapter VII, 
may be named Landen Hendricks, William Garrison, Joseph 
Tetrick, Jesse Beard, Thomas Needham, Jacob Fisher, Samuel 
Owens, David Wiles and J. C. Patterson. 

The next mill built in the township, after Smiley's, was by 
John Harter, on Young's Creek, two miles below Franklin. Har- 
ter bought his mill-irons from John Smiley and agreed to pay 
him in corn, two bushels being due on Wednesday of every other 
week until paid for ; and in this connection, it may be stated as 
an evidence of the straits to which men were put in those days, 
that Jefferson D. Jones had a supply of bacon but no meal, while 
Harter had the meal but no bacon, and that they made an ar- 
rangement whereby Jones took a half-bushel of meal every other 
week, and gave Harter of his bacon, in payment therefor at the 
same intervals of time. 

About 1827, Levi Moore got a little mill in operation on 
Young's Creek, at the mouth of Moore's Creek, and, still later, 
Cornelius Covert built a mill on the same stream higher up. 

In 1826, a little child of Joseph Young's died, the first in the 
township. In 1829, a school was taught in the log court house. 
John Tracy, of Pleasant Township, was a pupil, walking not less 
than five miles night and morning. James Graham was the 



HISTORICAL SKKTCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 119 

teacher. About 1825, Thomas Williams married, us is now be- 
lieved, the first couple in the township. Their names have not 
been remembered, but the groom, having no money to pay the 
Squire, proifered that he would make rails and his wife work in 
the kitchen for Williams in lieu of money. 

FRANKLIN COLLEGE — ITS ORIGIN. 

FTRNISIIED BY DK. W. T. STOTT. 

On the 5th of June, 1834, a number of Baptist ministers and 
laymen met at Indianapolis to form an education society. Their 
names were William Rees, J. L. Richmond, E. Fisher, H. Brad- 
ley, John Hobart, S. Harding, L. Morgan, J. V. A. Woods, 
E. Williams, John McCoy, John Mason, Moses Jeffries and 
Reuben Coffey. 

Bids were advertised for a place in which to plant a schooL 
Among four places, Franklin was chosen, and the " Baptist 
Manual Labor Institute" was organized. In 1844, a college 
charter was secured, college functions were assumed, and Rev. 
G. C. Chandler, of Indianapolis, was elected President. 

The curriculum would, at any time, compare favorably with 
that of any other college in the State, and the attendance was 
always fair. The finances were not so favorable. Many attempts 
were made to raise an endowment, but with only partial success. 
The largest effort was begun in 1852-53; the sum of $60,000 
was subscribed, on what was known as the " scholarship plan." 
A large proportion of the scholarships were used ; not half of the 
subscriptions, however, were paid. In 1853, Rev. Silas Bailey, 
D. D., was elected President. His reputation was so well estab- 
lished, and his leadership so marked, that he soon gathered an 
able Faculty, and had a good attendance of students. There was 
yet no endowment worth the naming. An additional building 
was put up, capable of accommodating sixty students with rooms. 
It was found to be impossible to collect the subscriptions to the 
endowment without recourse to law, and, after several trials, the 
colloction was given up. Why men were not willing to recognize 
their own obligations to their own institution is not known. Fail- 
ing health obliged President Bailey to resign in 1862. Instruction 
was kept up for some time ; but, as the war was taking all the 
young men from the country, the college was obliged to suspend, 
its last term having but two students, and they were both lame, 
and so could not enter the service. What a fine comment on the 
patriotism of the young men, who, in times of peace, would have 
been pursuing a course of study in our colleges ! In 1869, the 
Board of Directors again undertook the work of providing instrue- 



120 HISTOFJCAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

tion. Rev. W. T. Stott, Pastor at Columbus, was elected to the 
chair of natural science, and was made Acting President. An 
able corps of teachers was selected, and the school was soon in a 
prosperous state. In 1870, Rev. H. L. Way land, D. D., of 
Kalamazoo College, was elected President. Vigorous eflforts were 
now made to so present the needs and importance of the college, 
that the Baptists of the State would raise at least $100,000. After 
repeated efforts, President Wayland became discouraged, and 
resigned. The board had incurred a considerable debt in repairs 
and in advancing the pay of the instructors, and so in the early 
part of 1872, the college property was taken to secure the debt, 
and the board dissolved. Within a few months, however, the 
citizens of Johnson County and other friends, organized a Joint 
Stock Association ; over $50,000 were subscribed, and, in Septem- 
ber, 1872, the college was again ready to give instruction. Rev. 
W. T. Stott was chosen President, and it was decided to offer the 
advantages of the college to young men and young women on the 
same terms. 

The subscriptions of stock have, up to this time, amounted, in 
round numbers, to $100,000. The total net assets of the college 
are, as per statement in catalogue for 1879-80, as follows : 

Buildings, campus, library, apparatus and cabinet $ 40,000 00 

Productive endowment 60,531 88 

Unproductive endowment (real estate) 10,652 48 

Beneficiary fund 1,250 00 

Centennial Hall fund 471 69 

Bad and doubtful subscriptions 8,660 00 

Total .....1121,566 05 

Deducting bad and doubtful subscriptions, we have as 

our assets |112,906 05 

The number of graduates is fifty-six. Many of these have 
taken places of responsibility and honor. 

The college has two departments ; preparatory (of three years), 
and college proper (of four years). 

The attendance is increasing year by year. The library con- 
tains between 2,500 and 3,000 volumes.* 

The expenses are moderate, only $51 per year in college, and 
$48 in preparatory, including room and incidental fee. 

The officers of the board are J. L. Bradley, President ; Rev. 
G. E. Leonard, Vice President ; E. C. Miller, Secretary ; Dr. 
B. Wallace, Treasurer. Rev. W. N. Wyeth, D. D., is employed 
as General Financial Agent. 

* The campus consists of about twelve acres, on a portion of which stand the originftl forest 
trees. Thero are two hiu;b brick buildings, each 80x40 feet,and three atories high. These furnish 
recitation rooms, society rooms, laboratory, music room, painting room, chapel, library, studies for 
professors, and forty-eight rooms for students. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 121 

The Faculty consists of Rev. W. T. Stott, D. D., President 
and Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy ; Rev. C. H. 
Hall, B. D., Professor of Greek Language and Literature ; Miss 
R. J. Thompson, Professor of Mathematics, pure and applied ; 
A. B. Chaffee, A. M., Professor of Latin Language and Liter- 
ature ; D. A. Owen, A. B., tutor in Natural Science; W. C. 
Thompson, A. B., tutor in Preparatory Department; Mrs. Bel. R. 
Stott, teacher of Painting and Drawing ; J. M. Dungan, teacher 
of Instrumental and Vocal Music. 

Prominent among those who have been connected with the 
college as instructors are as follows : 

Presidents — G. C. Chandler, D. D. ; Silas Bailey, D. D., and 
H. L. Wayland, D. D. 

Other teachers — J. W. Dame, A. M. ; W. J. Robinson, Julia 
Robinson, J. S. Hougham, LL. D. ; Mark Bailey, A. M. ; G. 
Brummback, A. M. ; F. M. Furgason, A. M. ; W. Brand, D. D. ; 
Dr. B. Wallace, M. D. ; A. F. Tilton, J. E. Walter, A. M. ; 
F. M. Brown, Mrs. M. A. Fisher, J. W. Moncrief, A. M.. and 
E. S. Hopkins, A. B. 

Among those who have given the largest subscriptions to the 
present endowment may be named Grafton Johnson, W. W. Lowe, 
James Forsyth, James L. Bradley, William Needham, U. P. 
Schenk, E. H. Shirk, J. L. Allen and John Kenower. 




122 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

WHITE RIVER TOWNSHIP. 

BY JUDGE FRANKLIN HARDIN. 

White River Township originally extended across the north 
part of Johnson County, but is now restricted to its northwest 
corner. It includes forty-eight sections of land. Its length, which 
lies north and south, is eight miles and its breadth six. It is sit- 
uate in the basin of White River, and about one thousand acres 
lie on the west bank of that stream. Three or four sections in 
the southeast corner are included in the valley of Young's Creek. 
The valley of White River, through and over the gravelly and 
sandy stratum of the drift, is about twenty miles wide, and 
has a depth of sixty or seventy feet. There are only two ter- 
races to the river, the nearer being about twelve feet above low 
water and a mile in width, and overflows to a depth of about three 
feet. The farther is still fifteen feet higher and of equal breadth. 
With this terrace the level portions of its valley cease and are 
succeeded north of the bluffs by sandy and gravelly ridges a mile 
and more in width, and which extend for long distances parallel 
with the river having an elevation often equal to the greatest 
depth of the valley, proving to any observer that they were 
formed by moving waters confined to the valley of the river, and 
which were then equally extensive with its whole width and depth. 
Across this inclined plane, with its great fall throughout the whole 
township, except half a dozen sections in the southeast corner, 
situate in the basin of Young's Creek, Pleasant Run, Honey 
Creek, Bluff Creek, Crooked Creek and other smaller streams 
rush down to the river, thus giving an unsurpassed drainage to 
the township. The township has a greater variety of soils than 
any other in the county, and of unequaled productiveness. When 
Whetzel, in cutting his trace with the purpose of going still fur- 
ther, looked down into the rich valley of White River, he said 
" This is good enough for me," and there erected a permanent 
camp. And those who have resided in White River Township 
and having left in search of other eligible points, have sought in 
vain for its equal. Its rich, dry soil attracted emigration at a 
very early day, which continued to pour in until the township was 
soon densely populated. The greater part of the emigrants were 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 123 

from the Southern States, three-fourths at least from Virginia, a 
few from Kentucky, North Carolina and Ohio. The emigrants 
were men of small means, seldom able to enter more than eighty 
acres of land, and dependent entirely upon personal efforts for 
the improvement of their lands and for the subsistence of them- 
selves and families. And this one feature, that is, the slender 
means of the emigrants — although at first thought it seems paradox- 
ical — accounts for the rapid advancement of Indiana more than 
any other. There were no idlers. The men worked, the women 
worked, the children worked. 

The first emigrants were a body of select men, who came to a 
county covered with a heavy forest, to better their condition by 
conquering its wildness and developing its agricultural re- 
sources. Their capital was in their ability to perform hard serv- 
ice, and in a will and purpose to do so. The heavy forest, with 
its tall trees, and with its dense shrubbery, was sufficient to deter 
irresolute men from undertaking so arduous a task as its removal, 
and except a few wandering hunters there were none here. 
Every man needed as>sistance, and every man stood ready to 
render it. If an emigrant but cut a new road through the brush- 
wood, and erected a camp, a half a dozen men would find it out 
and be there in twenty-four hours, not by invitation, but volun- 
tarily to assist him in building a cabin. Often a cabin was built 
in a single day, and covered in, and the family housed in safety 
and comfort at night beneath its roof. If food was needed by 
the new-comer, that was carried alung, and often half of the meal 
for those assisting was supplied by the neighbors, and the good 
old kind-hearted mothers went along to help prepare it. The 
furniture of the cabin consisted often of a fixed bedstead in each 
of the four angles. One bed-post only was used, set up four and 
one-half feet from one wall, and six and one-half from the other, 
with two large holes bored into it two feet from the floor. Then 
two holes were bored into the walls, and into these were inserted, 
smoothed with a drawing-knife, two poles, four and a half feet, 
the width, and six and a half feet the length of the frame work. 
On the long way, rails were laid, and into the space between the 
logs of the wall were inserted the usual split boards, and thus this 
indispensable piece of furniture was completed. A man could 
make one in an hour. They answered every purpose with the 
fiinest bedstead, except they were not sufficiently stable for rest- 
Jess sleepers, who often found themselves descending through mis- 
placed boards to the floor. 

In every cabin, suspended to the joists, hung a frame-work of 
nicely smoothed poles a foot or two apart. On these, in the fall 



124 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

season, hung, in thin sections to dry for long keeping, the rich, 
golden pumpkins. 

But often the emigrant did not wait to build a cabin, but, if he 
came in the spring, he built a camp, leaving the cabin to be 
erected during the summer and fall. The first indispensable 
object was bread, and to reach it required long days of patient 
labor. But the pioneer came fully advised of what was to be met 
and overcome. His bread was in the ground beneath the forest 
trees. He did not sit down and repine, or reload his Avagon and 
return whence he came ; he was a man. The first thing was to 
remove the small undergrowth. It was the universal practice to 
cut down everything "eighteen inches and under". When 
felled, it was cut up into sections twelve to fifteen feet in 
length, and the brush piled around larger trees for the pur- 
pose of killing them by burning. Ten to fifteen settlers 
had an understanding that they Avould act together and assist 
one another. It mattered little if ten miles apart, that was 
not too far to travel to assist or to be assisted. Every man 
had his day, and when that day came, rain or shine, none of the 
expected assistants were absent. They did not wait till the dews' 
were dissipated; they came as soon as the sun rose and often 
sooner. I yet see them, and how I regret that we have not a 
photographic view of the company, our fathers and mothers, just 
as they were then. True, they were not fashionably dressed, for 
in nine cases out often, each man wore a pair of buckskin pants, 
partly from necessity and partly from convenience, for a man dressed 
in leather moves through brush and briers with little inconven- 
ience. Each wore moccasins instead of boots ; and old hats, coonskin 
or buckskin caps made up the head gear. There was no time lost. 
Every man was a veteran and hastened on to the work to be done 
with precision and skillfulness. If the company was large enough 
it was divided. Eight men made a good strong company, and 
quite as many as could act together. Every squad had a captain 
or leader, not by election, but he was such by pre-eminence and 
skill in the business. And now the work begins. The leader 
casts his experienced eye over the logs as they were fallen by 
accident, or, more probably, by design, and at a single glance 
takes in the situation over an acre. A half-dozen logs are lying 
a few feet apart, and in a parallel position. They can be readily 
thrown together and constitute a nice pile for burning. The 
leader speaks, and they seem to have suddenly acquired locomo- 
tion, and are in a pile. And thus on and on for fifteen or twenty 
days every spring, before each man has had his day. Tiie mothers 
were there also assisting, in cooking, not in patent metal stoves 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 125 

with a lialf a dozen apartments to stow away everything nicely, 
but in Dutch ovens and sugar kettles before a hot burning log- 
pile. If anything was wanting, and the want was made known, 
it was kindly contributed, and a rich, hearty meal was provided, 
and then eaten with a zest unknown to the present lazy shadows 
of manhood. And thus the day was spent in useful necessary 
labor and friendly chat. But the pioneer, during the busy sea- 
son, did not go home to rest and to sleep from a log rolling, but 
to his own clearing, where he continued to heap brush on the 
burning heaps till the snapping and uproar could be heard in the 
distance, and the light lit up the heavens for a half a mile away, 
then retiring to snatch from labor a few hours of rest, he soon 
found the coming day, bringing with it the busy scenes already 
described. But there was a good woman, a faithful mother left 
behind, and so soon as the morning meal was over, she did not 
while away the day in reading novels or fingering a piano, but 
she took all the children to the clearing, and securing baby in a 
safe position, she and the older ones continued to pile on the 
brush and combustibles, and thus the work went on by day and 
night. In early spring, when the trees were being felled to be 
cut up for piling and burning on some elevated place in the 
midst of a pioneer settlement, my attention has been often 
arrested by the busy scene around me. In old age the mind 
wanders back to brighter days, and often finds pleasure even in 
youthful sports. 

" How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood, 
When fond recollection presents them to view; 
The orQhard, the meadow, the deep tangled wildwood, 
And all the loved scenes which my infancy knew." 

When we travel over the "New Purchase," and see it as it 
now is, and compare it with its condition fifty years ago. the 
exclamation forces itself upon us ; How changed ! Everything is 
altered ! It is another world ! But what wrought the change ? 
Come, travel back with me to its condition as it was fifty years ago 
and learn the cause, and see the busy scene around. It is a pleas- 
ing one to me, and was then, although repeated over and over for 
three months during every spring. It is now the 1st of May, and 
fifty years ago since those good men, the pioneers, stimulated by the 
recollection of the scanty supplies of the last year, were straining 
every nerve to clear up more ground to supply the deficiency. 
Here with their bare, brawny arms, they swung high in the air 
their sharp glittering blades, that effectively fell in unceasing 
blows amid the trees and brush of the jungle, click ! click ! just 
at hand and faintly heard in the distance ; click ! click ! twenty 



126 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

or thirty axes are heard in rapid fall. Every man and every 

boy is at work. 

"Deep echoing groan the thickets brown, 
Then rustling, crackling, crashing thunder down," 

the forest trees. And the ponderous maul forced down with the 
power of a stalwart pioneer, shakes the forest for a mile away ; 
and the loud-sounding monotones of twenty bells, at least, on the 
leaders of cattle and horses, like telephones, tell the owners where 
to find them, as they roam at large and feed on nature's wide 
pastures. 

And now gaunt want, with his emaciated form and hateful, 
shrunken visage, who had forced himself into every cabin in 
spite of the efforts of its inmates, when he heard the crashing, 
falling trees, and saw at night the lurid glare of burning logs and 
brush, was alarmed and fled, but afterward often returned and 
cast a wistful eye within, but seldom entered. 

It was thus the improvements in Johnson County were begun. It 
is thus the work has been carried on and the consummation reached 
in the grand development of its resources in every department 
of our industries. Among the pioneers were some immoral, bad 
men ; there were, however, but few entirely destitute of all good. 
In this history, it is the gold and not the dross that we would 
preserve. Not only in laborious duties, but, also, in moral and 
social qualities, the pioneers generally, were a noble and select 
class of men and women. Their ears were open to every call of 
aid and assistance. I would to God that I had the skill to paint 
in proper colors, and to describe their kindness and sympathy, 
and their vigils around the couches of their suffering, dying neigh- 
bors, but I am powerless to do them justice. And around their 
firesides, in social evening gatherings, their friendship and kind- 
ness knew no limits. And, if it were not for the want and desti- 
tution and constant hardships endured by them, and the gloomy, 
deadly autumnal sickness, I could wish to meet them once again, 
though in the gloomy forest, to enjoy another social gathering in 
a humble log cabin where every thought and every word came 
up fresh and pure pushing from the heart. But they are gone. 
They have long since gathered by the " side of the beautiful 
river," in a friendship now changed into perfect love, where God 
shall wipe away all tears, where there is no more toil, nor want, 
nor sorrow, nor death, to receive the glorious rewards of well-spent 
lives. We owe to their memories a vast debt for the beautiful 
country which their labors and sufferings have left us, and yet 
still more, for their examples in goodness and virtue, which by 
night and by day still go with us, and kindly, and softly, and 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 127 

sweetly, in angelic whispers, invite us to walk in their footsteps 
and practice their virtues. They are gone, but still they are 
with us and live in our memories as fresh and as green as the 
beautiful grass that mournfully drooping, in spring-time waves 
over them. They are gone, but still aifection, though it linger, 
will follow on and cling to them, and for long years to come will 
often return with soft, silent footsteps to plant nature's sweet em- 
blems of virtue on their graves, the choicest and richest and rarest 
of flowers, which will spring with fresh vigor, and bloom in new 
beauty and glory, and shed richer fragrance, sweeter than incense, 
because they grow on the graves of the pioneer fathers and 
mothers, and because they were planted by children and kindred 
who loved them and nurtured with tears of richest affection. 

In the northwest corner of Johnson and northeast corner of Mor- 
gan and over north in Marion County, was once a large farm and 
a town of Delaware Indians. The acres which had been in culti- 
vation, in the judgment of the first settlers, in 1820, although 
then overgrown by bushes, must have exceeded two hundred, the 
greater part of which was in Johnson County. It was delight- 
fully situated on a plateau twenty-five or thirty feet above the 
overflowage of the river, and was cut on the northeast and south- 
east by White River. When William Landers, Esq., settled on 
a tract of land adjoining the town in April, 1820, there still re- 
sided on that portion of the farm in White River Township and 
west of the river, Capt. Big Fire, Little Duck, and Johnny Quack, 
and on the east side of the river, in White River Township, on 
the old Morgan or Denny place, Capt. White, another Indian, 
where also a large field had been in cultivation at a previous 
date. And on the left bank of the river, three-fourths of a mile 
below Capt. White's, on the lands of John J. Worsham, was an- 
other Indian location and burial-ground, but no cultivation. 
This encampment was owned by Big Bear. On the Morgan 
County part of the old Indian field Capt. Tunis had his wigwam, 
and just adjoining, in Marion, Old Solomon his. The wigwams 
were situated on the right bank of the river at the southeast cor- 
ner of the farm, near the middle of Section 31. Here seems to 
have been once a stone wall, thirty or forty feet long and five or 
six feet high, built of portable undressed stones and laid parallel 
with the river and a hundred feet distant. The Indians said this 
wall was built for defensive purposes against the Kentuckians ; 
that there had been a bloody battle fought there once between 
them and the wl.ites, beginning on the east bank of the river, 
where they were surprised, and that they were forced over the 
river, assaulted in the town and finally driven out. That there- 



128 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

after the farm had never been occupied, except by a few return- 
ing families. The size of the brush growing on and about the 
once cleared land at that date, 1820, showed that it had but re- 
cently been abandoned. An old Kentuckian of great reliability, 
Stephen Watkins, on a visit to White River Township, twenty-five 
years ago, repeated precisely the same history of this town, 
and the battle and all the circumstances of the fight. He went 
so far as to point to the near battle-field ; he said he had the par- 
ticulars from one of the actors and knew them to be true. Does 
history give any account of this battle ? In Dillon's History of 
Indiana, it is shown that the *' Pigeon Roost Massacre " took place 
in the north part of Scott County, about eighty miles south of 
this Indian town, on the 3d day of September, 1812. The next 
evening, 150 mounted riflemen, under command of Col. John Mc- 
Coy, followed the trail twenty miles. On the 6th, the militia of 
Clarke County (no number given) was re-enforced by 60 mounted 
volunteers from Jefferson County, and, on the evening of the 7th 
350 volunteers from Kentucky were ready to unite with the 
Indiana militia of Clarke and Jeff'erson for the purpose of making 
an attack on the Delaware Indians, some of whom were suspected 
of having been engaged in the destruction of the Pigeon Roost set- 
tlement. * * * "But, it is said, a spirit of rivalry which 
prevailed among some of the officers defeated the intention of 
those, who, at the time proposed to destroy the towns of the 
friendly Delawares who lived on the western branch of White 
River." Now hear what Maj. John Tipton says about these 
" friendly Indians" on White River: "In their way out, they 
(the escaping Indians) passed the Saline or Salt Creek, and I 
there took an old trail leading direct to the Delaware towns, and 
it is my opinion that while the Government is supporting one part 
of that tribe (the Delawares), the other part is murdering our 
citizens." * * * 

"It is much to be desired that those rascals of whatever tribe 
they may be harboring about these (Delaware) towns, should be 
routed, which could be done with 100 men in seven days." 
With this spirit and purpose openly declared by the whites, how 
long, do we imagine, they waited for an opportunity to execute 
it ? Will any one make me believe that 600 armed men at the 
"Pigeon Roost Massacre," after viewing the slaughtered and 
roasted human bodies and burning houses, quietly dispersed and 
went home ? Col. Joseph Bartholomew raided these towns on 
White River with 137 men on the 15th day of June, 1813. He 
found three towns, two of which had been burnt about a month 
before. (See Dillon, 524.) Who destroyed them ? The reason 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 129 

that the battle at the Delaware towns, if a battle did occur, and 
the breaking them up on White River was never reported, is 
that the Government during the war with the other Indian tribes 
in 1811, 1812 and 1813 was supporting and protecting the Del- 
awares who had promised to engage in peaceful pursuits. Gen. 
Harrison had directed the Delawares to remove to the Shawanee's 
Reservation in Ohio, and most of them had done so soon after the 
battle of Mississinewa, December 17, 1812. Those who refused 
to go received but little mercy. But another proof of this battle 
is in the fact that on the twenty-acre field, in the southeast cor- 
ner of northwest quarter. Section 32, Township 14 north, Range 
3 east, near Capt. White's old camp, large numbers of leaden 
bullets of every size, battered and bruised, have been found. I 
have had at least one hundred of them myself, and have picked 
up at least nine, recently, in a wash of the river and have been 
told of hundreds being found by others. I have passed a short 
distance from this field, on other ground more suitable for finding 
them, but never yet found any except on this locality. And 
about three years since, on John Sutton's farm, one mile and a 
fourth north of the battle-field and only one mile east of the 
Indian town, four frames of human bodies were washed out of a 
low, wet piece of bottom land. The skulls were carried off before 
I had an opportunity of examining them. No Indian ever buried 
his dead in a low, wet piece of land. They must have been buried 
there under pressing circumstances and by white men. 

I shall now endeavor, so far as I have knowledge, either re- 
ceived from others or from personal observation, extending back 
to the year 1825, to give the history of the pioneers of White 
River Township. 

In the month of April or May, 1820, one Morgan, whose sur- 
name is believed to have been Daniel, a bachelor, from Western 
Pennsylvania, and soon after the Indian departure of Capt. White 
for Arkansas, took possession of his camp and cultivated two or 
three acres of the old Indian field in corn, expecting his brother 
to come and take possession with him in the following fall. His 
corn grew finely and promised an abundant crop, but, as it often 
then happened, the squirrels began their ravages and ate up the 
whole before maturity. He then left for his home, but the 
Indian camp did not long remain vacant. 

In the fall of 1820, after Morgan left Capt. White's camp, 
George Beeler, a son of Thomas and Hannah Beeler, with his wife 
and sister-in-law, then residents of Morgan County, but subse- 
quently of Johnson County, intending to make the camp his home, 
entered with his family and took possession. But it seems that 



130 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

Providence intended that he, like Morgan, should not long remain. 
He took sick and died, and was buried a mile and a half north of 
the camp, in the graveyard on the Wilson place, the oldest ceme- 
tery on White River. There can be no doubt that this is the 
first death of a white settler in all Johnson County.* On the 
30th day of July, 1821, soon after the lands of White River Town- 
ship were subject to entry, one Joseph Morgan entered this same 
tract. He was no doubt the same person for whom his bachelor 
brother operated in raising the field of corn in the year before. 

THE SELLS FAMILY. 

Abraham Sells was a Virginian from Washington County. 
He left there on the 24th day of December, 1820, in a wagon^ 
with a large family, and reached Washington County, Ind., about 
the middle of February. Leaving the female members of his fam- 
ily in that county, accompanied by his brother, John Sells, and 
four of John's sons, and three of his own, Isaac, William and 
Franklin, he set out for White River, and reached Jacob Whet- 
zel's about the 1st of March. Following the old Indian trace 
up the left bank of the river, on the 3d day of March, 
1821, he entered White River Township, and took possession 
of the old Indian wigwam of Capt. White, situate forty rods 
north of Honey Creek, and near the middle of the northwest 
quarter of Section 32, Township 14 north. Range 3 east, now known 
as the Denny place. They brought along seventy-five head of 
hogs, eleven head of cattle, eight head of horses, together with 
sugar kettles, and a goodly assortment of tools and provisions 
for the summer, intending to bring their families in the fall. 
The stock were mostly turned to the woods to find their own fare. 
They now concluded to operate together, and having seven able- 
bodied men and a boy, soon brushed out in the old Indian field 
five or six acres, which they inclosed with a temporary fence to 
keep out their own stock, no other being near, and planted in it corn. 
West of the river was an old hackberry deadening, containing fifteen 
acres, requiring but little labor to bring it into cultivation. In 
the year 1820, and in some years subsequent, a small green worm 
stripped the hackberry trees of all their leaves, killing them in a 
few weeks. This deadening required no fencing, especially against 
hogs, and was also planted with corn. §ells and his company were 
driven out of the low valley once or twice by high water. When the 
.corn on the east of the river was in a forward state toward matu- 
rity, the hogs broke through the hasty fence and destroyed all. 
When the labor of raising the crop was over, all, except two of 

* Two deaths occurred the same fall in Blue River Township. — D. D. B. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 131 

the company, who were left to care for it, returned, intending to 
bring their families and settle permanently in their location. But 
John Sells, Abraham's brother, and Isaac, Abraham's son, took 
sick and died. Abraham, with his two remaining sons and three 
nephews,, John, William and Abraham, returned late in the fall. 
John Sells crossed the river and settled in Morgan County. Will- 
iam bought a tract along the west line of the county and west of 
the river, and remained there several years, and then sold out 
and left the State. Abraham subsequently went back to Wash- 
ington County, Ind., and took a wife and became a permanent 
citizen of White River Township, where he reared a family of 
two sons — Samuel and Jesse, worthy representatives of a worthy 
sire — and several daughters of equal respectability, all of whom 
are still among us. He died July 16, 1867, aged sixty-two years. 
Abraham Sells, Sr., having a large family, built a house near his 
original camp, and resided there two years, suffering continually 
from fever and ague. He then moved eastward two miles, and 
located on a healthy place, and there remained till he died, on 
the 5th of March, 1846, aged sixty-three years. William Sells, 
son of Abraham, settled in the southeast quarter of Section 34, 
Township 14 north, and also reared a family. He died there 
November 22, 1864, aged sixty-nine years. His wife died sub- 
sequently, but a part of the heirs still hold and yet occupy the 
old homestead. 

THE LOWE FAMILY. 

Between the 3d and 10th of March, 1821, Thomas Lowe and 
Eleanor Lowe, his wife, with four sons and as many daughters, 
several of the latter being married, entered White River Township, 
and located on the southeast quarter of Section 8, Township 13 
north, Range 3 east. They were well supplied with cash, and 
entered some of the most beautiful lands in the township. Every 
member of the original family is dead and gone. Thomas Lowe, 
Jr., was one of the two Justices of the Peace first elected in the 
township. His brother Abraham afterward held the same office. 
The widow of Abraham and one son still occupy a part of the 
old homestead. The Lowes were an intelligent and respectable 
people, and natives of North Carolina. 

■DAVID SCOTT, 

who lived near Bloomington, Ind., came into White River Town- 
ship about the middle of March, 1821. He bought a team, con- 
sisting of two horses, and a wagon and provisions for the summer. 
His purpose was to clear a field, plant and raise corn, and bring 
his family in the fall. He built a camp just below the mouth of 



132 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

Pleasant Run, near Abraham Sells, on a tract of low, overflowed 
land. He cleared a field and planted bis corn. Some time late 
in tbe summer, bis borses escaped, and tbis so discouraged bim 
tbat he sold out to Sells and abandoned the country. 

JOHN DOTY 

came from Hamilton County, Ohio, near North Bend, along the 
Wbetzel trace, and built a camp on tbe southeast quarter of the 
northeast quarter of Section 16, Township 13 north. Range 3 
east, in White River Township, on the 8tb day of May, 1821. 
Next morning, he and his sons, Peter and Samuel, began to clear 
land and make rails, preparatory to raising some corn. Four 
acres were soon cleared and planted, but their expectations were 
blasted, for as soon as the ears began to appear, the raccoons 
entered like a herd of hogs, and never ceased their depredations 
until the last nubbin was gone. A full history of tbis family 
would make a volume. They made several trips to Conners- 
ville for breadstuff's. They were for weeks without anything 
to eat except hastily dried venison. Peter and Samuel deserve 
to have a monument to perpetuate the recollection of their laboi'S. 
Tbe number of rails made by them, tbe number of acres of land 
cleared up, the miles of new roads cut out, the number of cabins 
built, would startle tbe belief of the present population. On one 
occasion, they took their axes and a few dollars in money and 
walked forty miles to Strawtown, above on White River. Daniel 
Etter, hereafter mentioned, with bis big Virginia ax and his steel- 
yards, went with them. They all remained, doing any kind of 
labor, till a good supply of corn was laid in. They then made 
two large dug-outs from a poplar tree, filled them with corn, and 
descended White River, and landed at the mouth of Honey Creek, 
to the great joy and relief of their families. John Doty had four 
sons, George, Peter, Samuel and William, and still more daughters. 
He died January 29, 1856, aged seventy-eight years and ten 
months. They are all gone except Samuel and William. Peter 
was appointed the first Assessor for the township. They were all 
honest, industrious people, and had little to start with, except 
strong arms and unconquerable wills to execute their purposes, 
and to overcome every opposing obstacle. 

JUDGE DANIEL BOAZ. 

In the fall of 1821, in a partnership conveyance, there came 
from Kentucky Daniel Boaz and James Ritchey with their fami- 
lies. Judge Boaz was a native of Virginia ; but at some period 
of life, had emigrated to Kentucky, and thence to White River 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 133 

Township. He had been unfortunate, having had first and last 
three wives. He purchased and located on a pretty elevation just 
a mile from the western line of the county, on the northeast quarter 
of Section 19, and the west half of the northwest quarter of Sec- 
tion 20, Township 13 north, Range 3 east, now owned by Jacob 
Tresslar. Here he lost his second wife, whose grave is to be seen 
in the midst of a cultivated farm, on the first tract of land described. 
He was a man of general knowledge, and possessed of more than 
an ordinary share of intellectual vigor. He was elected at the 
first election held in the county, on the 8th day of March, 1823, 
one of the Associate Judges, which office he continued to hold for 
fourteen years. He was a fine specimen of the old Virginia 
gentleman, and of unbending dignity. He was affable, polite and 
kind, and was highly useful in imparting knowledge to his neigh- 
bors of legal matters, and, in their distress, when sick, and no 
doctor could be procured, in advising and contributing medicine 
for their relief. His third wife was a daughter of Benjamin 
Mills. For long years, his health was poor, yet he lived to 
extreme old age, and died about ten years since. He had a large 
family of children ; but many of them are dead, and the rest, 
except one son, are scattered in distant States. 

CAPT. JAMES RICHEY 

was a Kentucky gentleman of unusual suavity of manners, well 
informed, a fluent talker, and capable of imparting to his neigh- 
bors on almost any subject useful and correct information. He^ 
as well as his companion. Judge Boaz, was often called on for 
advice in legal matters. He was elected, at the first election, a 
County Commissioner. He located on the northwest quarter of 
Section 19, Township 13 north. Range 3 east, where he remained 
to the day of his death, on May 14, 1858, aged seventy-five years 
and two months. He had a small family of children, one only of 
whom now remains in the county. 

Thus, the history of the pioneers of 1821 has been fully given. 

ARCHIBALD GLENN. 

Sometime in October, 1822, Archibald Glenn and family, from 
Nicholas County, in the State of Kentucky, arrived, and became 
permanent residents of the township. He located on the north 
line of the county, on the northeast quarter of Section 28, Town 
14 north, of Range 3 east, where he continued to reside till the 
day of his death. It cannot be fairly charged as a disparage- 
ment to others, when I say that he was pre-eminently the father 



134 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHxNSON COUNTY. 

to the north half of the township. He was in all respects fully 
qualified to lead in every industry. No man ever wielded a 
seven-pound ax more effectively or continuously during the time 
the farms were being made. I can see him yet, with his Ken- 
tucky ax, pole and bit equally heavy, severing large branches 
from the trunk of a fallen tree at a single stroke, with unequaled 
skill and terrific blows, and, with a broad ax large enough to tax 
the powers of a giant, not in delicate, faint, timid touches, but 
standing erect, and swinging the ax in a radius the full length 
of his arm, and with unerring precision and overhand blows, and 
advancing at quick steps from end to end, scattering and strewing 
the flying chips far away in every direction. He was the leader 
at house-raisings and log-rollings, and, by his skill and sound 
judgment in these laborious duties, accomplished great results 
with incredible celerity. In short, he was skillful in every 
work to be done in a new country. He was the finest marksman 
with a rifle in the State, and could shoot "off-hand" twenty 
squirrels through the head without a miss. But abov« all this is 
the fact that he was an honest man. No dishonest or immoral 
act received any support from him. He was chosen one of the 
Justices of the Peace at the first election in 1823, and was ad- 
mired for his unflinching honesty in office. He was chosen one 
of the Board of Township Trustees in 1852. He was ever 
ready to render assistance and comfort and consolation to the sick 
and the dying. He died a Christian, full of blessed hope of 
a happy immortality beyond the grave. His death was regretted 
by all. He left three sons and two daughters to heir the home- 
stead. Austin Glenn, the youngest, died not many years after 
his father. Archibald Glenn, Esq., resided near the line, on the 
Marion County side. Andrew W. Glenn resides in White River 
Township. They are good farmers, have a good supply of this 
world's goods, and tread in the footsteps of their worthy father. 

JOHN MURPHY. 

Along with Archibald Glenn came John Murphy, a nephew of 
Glenn by marriage. He located near his uncle, but all his hopes 
and those of his family were cut down in his sudden death two 
years after his arrival. 

NATHAN AND BENJAMIN CULVEE. 

The Culvers were from East Tennessee, and came to this town- 
ship in October, 1822. They located their homes on the beautiful, 
rolling, sandy lands in the northern part of the township, on the 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 135 

northwest quarter of Section 34. They were industrious and 
economical, and soon added greatly to their limited goods, by 
their fine crops of corn and wheat. The family of Benjamin was 
small, and, after ten or fifteen years, he left the county. Nathan 
remained on his location, and, at the death of his wife, was rich in 
lands, but her death and the marriage of his daughters broke up 
his family. They were scattered in all directions. He followed 
several sons and a daughter to Iowa, and there died many years 
since. They were a short-lived people, and the name is now only 
borne in the State by a single son, Mr. Elihu Culver, of Spencer, 
a gentleman of wealth and distinction ; however, two grandchil- 
dren of the old gentleman still live in the township. 

NATHANIEL ST. JOHN. 

In October, 1822, Nathaniel St. John and family, from West- 
ern Ohio, settled on a part of Sections 26 and 27, in Township 
14 north, of Range 3 east, on the south bank of Pleasant Run. 
He was a queer man, and was called a Yankee by his neighbors, 
and was believed to possess a large share of cunning, like other 
Yankees, yet he always stood fair among them as an honest man, 
until, in an unexpected moment in 1838, he turned out a trader 
in fat hogs, which he drove to Lawrenceburg to find a market. 
Finding no market, he packed them and shipped them to Missis- 
sippi, to find a market there, but in vain. He failed, and all his 
property was sacrificed to pay his debts. In an attempt to save 
himself from complete ruin, he remained in Mississippi for two 
years, and there died. He was naturally a machinist, and built 
a small mill on the creek in the year 1830, which, although it 
served its day, yet was not instrumental in increasing his wealth. 

MR. BAKER, DANIEL ETTER, MICHAEL BROWN AND MR. NEESE 

came in a group together from the State of Virginia, and settled 
in the south part of the township, in the fall of 1822. Daniel 
Etter took a lease first, and lived several years on the school sec- 
tion. Like many another, he was in low circumstances when he 
came. On one occasion soon after his arrival, when Peter Doty 
and Samuel, his brother, set out for Strawtown, in Hamilton 
County to procure corn, he also needing bread-corn, determined 
to go with them, take his ax along, with its big Virginia pole 
much heavier than the bit, and seek by his labor to procure need- 
ful supplies. He had no money and nothing portable to purchase 
with except a pair of steelyards having a draft of 300 pounds. 
With his ax and steelyards, he followed the Dotys, and overtook 



136 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

them four miles on the road. He had fine luck, for he sold his 
steelyards at a big price, and by his labors gathered up tliirty 
bushels of corn, which he brought down White River in a dug-out. 
This event with the balances was the balancing point in his life. 
He was a blacksmith. He worked when he could get anything to 
do. Every coin was laid away. His wife seconded every move- 
ment. By the time his lease expired, he had the money to buy 
eighty acres of land south of Waverly. He lived to an old age 
and died in affluent circumstances. Why should any man despair? 

MICHAEL BROWN. 

Brown and Etter were brothers-in-law. He finally located on 
on Bluff Creek, in Section 29, Township 13 north, of Range 3 
east, on a very pleasant piece of land, and improved it well. 
Thirty years ago, he sold this farm and emigrated tQ Illinois,. to 
better his circumstances. He was an honest and industrious man. 

MR. BAKER 

was an old man when he came to the township. He had three 
sons — Peter, Michael and Joseph. He purchased and located on 
the west half of the northwest quarter of Section 21, Township 
13 north, of Range 3 east, which he afterward sold to Abraham 
Bishop. He died many years ago, and was said to be one hun- 
dred and ten years old. They were from the State of Virginia. 
Peter emigrated to Iowa ; Joseph was murdered in cold blood, in 
1831 or 1832, by one Barger, who then fled and was never heard 
of afterward; Michael resides in Union Township, with his family. 

MR. NEESE. 

One Neese came here with Daniel Etter. He had a small 
family with him, but soon left, and went no one knows where. 

ANDREW BROAVN, SR. 

It is believed by those best informed, that Andrew Brown emi- 
grated to this township in the year 1822. He was originally a 
Virginian, but, like many of the first emigrants, came lastly from 
Whitewater, near Brookville. He was the owner of the south- 
west quarter of Section 9, in Township 13 north, of Range 3 
east, which is unsurpassed by any other quarter in the township 
in soil and excellent springs. He was industrious, and soon 
made a fine farm, on which he continued to live to the day of his 
death, with every essential comfort. He was a good citizen. 
Full of jokes, full of fun, and always in good humor, his com- 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 137 

panionship was very agreeable. He died May 8, 1862, aged 
seventy-nine years and four months. He had children, but they 
are in other States. This closes the emigration to White River 
Township in 1822. Hereafter the chronological order of the 
arrival of emigrants will not be attempted because of the increased 
numbers. 

WILLIAM AND SAMUEL BLEAN 

were born in ''Ould Ireland," and came down through New Jer- 
sey and Pennsylvania to White River Township in 1822 or 1823. 
They bought a beautiful quarter-section of land, and located on 
it and made a farm. William Blean was a married man, with 
several children. Not many years after their arrival he died, 
leaving his widow and children in the care and under the control 
of Uncle Sammy, the bachelor brother. They were as obedient 
to him as to their own father. No family settling on White River 
ever shook with the ague more persistently than the Bleans. not in 
the fall season only, but often the whole year around. Finally the 
widow could shake no longer, and died. The family then sold out 
and moved away to Northern Missouri, where some of them yet 
live. They were strictly honest and truthful, and well respected. 

NICHOLAS SELLS. 

or, as he always spelled his name. Sell, was of German descent 
and lastly from Western Ohio. He was not related to the other 
Sells family of the township. He settled in 1823 in White River 
Township, on a beautiful tract of land, the northeast quarter of 
Section 5, in Township 13 north, Range 3 east, where he made 
a farm. He was industrious and strictly economical, always 
having a few dollars hid away to meet incidental demands. He 
was a man of strong feelings, and at times irritable and easily ex- 
cited, loving his friends and hating his enemies. He could never 
understand a joke, believing everything told him as real, and was 
therefore often wrongfully imposed upon. He died on the old 
homestead, leaving David and Michael and other children to bear 
his name. 

Michael, his son, sold out and went to Illinois, where he now 
resides. 

David Sells, by some sort of purchase from his father, suc- 
ceeded to the ownership of the old homestead, where he resided and 
reared a family. He and his wife died suddenly in 1865, of ery- 
sipelas, as also a boy whom they were raismg, David, on the 10th 
day of January, 1865, and Rachel, his wife, on the 6th. He was 
a good liver, made money, and, when he died, was the owner of 
considerable property. He was often charged by his neighbors 



138 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

with relishing the best end of a bargain. The homestead has 
long since passed to other hands. 

SAMUEL PARKS, SR., 
was by birth a Pennsylvanian. He was married to Martha Glenn, 
of Berkeley County, Va., in 1794, and, in the fall, emigrated to 
Kentucky, where he resided till 1823. He now purchased a 
year's provision and forwarded it to Madison, Ind., and himself 
and family came through in a wagon. He landed at the Bluffs, 
in Morgan County, on the last day of 1823, and rented a cabin 
of Bradshaw until he could build one on his own land in White 
River Township, to which he removed during the winter of 1824. 
He located on the north half of the northeast quarter of Section 7, 
and west half of the northwest quarter of Section 8, in Township 
13 north, Range 3 east. His location was exceedingly unhealthy 
for several years. The whole family were sometimes sick and 
prostrate at one time with fever and ague. On the 29th day of 
Aui^ust, 1825, he died, leaving his widow and three sons and two 
daughters and several grandchildren to fight out the battle of 
life in the wilderness. The sons were Samuel, John G. and 
James W. Parks. The mother and her children did not flee the 
country under these most discouraging circumstances, but went 
boldly to work to cut out a farm in the green woods, and most 
nobly accomplished it. 

Mrs. Parks was a fine specimen of the pioneer mother. After 
her husband's death, she taught school in her own house. She 
was a noble woman, highly esteemed and useful as a female phy- 
sician. She lived to an old age, and died of consumption on the 
22d day of August, 1851, aged seventy-three years and nine 
months. 

John G. Parks died of lung fever, February 9, 1843. Samuel 
Parks lived till five or six years ago ; he was an old man, and re- 
sided in Union Township. He left a large family. James W. 
Parks, one of the three sons, resides in Pleasant Township. The 
Parks family were all highly respected for uprightness and good 
citizenship. 

JOHN CAGLBY. 

emigrated from Wythe County, Va., to White River Township in 
the fall of 1823, and bought the farm of Judge Daniel Boaz in 
Sections 19 and 20, and became a permanent citizen. He was 
up in years when he first came. He had a large family and quite 
a number of boys. Some years after he came, he built a horse- 
mill which did much grinding for the neighborhood. He, like 
most of the Virginia emigrants, was of German descent. He was 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 139 

as firm as a rock in his purposes and strictly honest in all his deal- 
ings. In the fall of 1851, as nearly as can be ascertained, John 
Cagley, and sooner or later all his sons and daughters, moved to 
Northern Iowa. 

HENRY BROWN 

originally came from Virginia to Franklin County, Ind., and 
thence to White River Township, Johnson County, Ind. In the 
fall of 1819, he drove the first wagon whose wheels ever rolled 
over the county, in the removal of Jacob Whetzel and family from 
Brookville to the Bluffs of White River, and, in four years after, 
he returned to become a permanent citizen of its valley. He was 
a brother of Michael Brown, who came the year before, and a 
cousin also of Andrew Brown, already described. He purchased 
the west half of the northeast quarter and east half of the north- 
west quarter of Section 20, Township 13 north. Range 3 east, a 
pleasant, high situation, and worked assiduously in its improve- 
ment, and soon realized such returns therefrom as enabled him 
to live with every comfort about him. He had long been, and at 
his death was, a leading member and officer of the Christian 
Church at the Bluffs. He died on the 18th day of September, 
1865, aged seventy-four years and six months. He left an aged 
widow, and two sons with their families, to wit, T. J. Brown and 
Irvin H. Brown, in possession of the old homestead and its pleas- 
ant memories. 

NATHANIEL BELL AND HIS SONS. 

Nathaniel Bell was from Ohio. He located at the crossing of 
the Whetzel and Berry traces in 1828. There he built a horse- 
mill, which for four or five years served in some sort to furnish 
an occasional sack of coarse meal to the settlers. It was a strange 
piece of machinery, and when in motion produced unearthly 
sounds in its rattlings and creakings and rumblings. The hoop 
inclosing the runner was a section of a hollow log, sitting loosely 
over and around the grinder, to prevent the escape of the meal. 
When the team made a sudden movement, the revolving momentum 
often communicated to the inclosing hoop, and it, too, was thrown 
into a sudden circular motion. The strange drummings so 
frightened the horses that they increased their gait beyond con- 
trol, and the increased whirl of the grinder overcame its gravity 
and caused it to take a tangential leap from above, down among 
the horses and men. His mill Avas never profitable. He also at- 
tempted to keep a sort of hotel, but no man was caught twice by 
that bait, and in 1829 the traces for through travel were aban- 
doned and useless because other and better highways were con- 



140 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

structed. From this date onward this place, once so public, be- 
came one of the most lonely and desolate places in the county, 
being overgrown by briers and brush, and deserted. 

Nathaniel Bell, who called himself "• the little old man," had 
six sons, large, active and bold as lions. Nearly all came with 
him and spread themselves abroad over White River Township. 
In every enterprise they acted together, and grew bolder and bold- 
er, and became aggressive, attempting, in the spring of 1829, to 
elect one of their number a Justice of the Peace. But this attempt 
was a failure. Against some of them no positive acts of miscon- 
duct could be alleged, but soon the people who were at first dis- 
posed to look on the better part of them as good men, now changed, 
and believed each to be a conspirator, and equally guilty. The 
emigrants were now pouring into the county. The Bells were 
soon surrounded, suspected, watched, shunned and threatened. 
One of the worst among them was killed at a house-raising on 
Grassy Creek, by a log sliding back and crushing his head. They 
were shrewd men ; they saw it ail — that they stood alone — and 
they soon wisely left, to the relief of the whole township, leaving 
the " little old man" with his rattle-trap to shift for himself. The 
old man had failed in his hotel and distillery, and his mill was 
superseded by other and better mills, so he determined, contrary 
to the usual custom, to carry his mill to his customers, for it was 
now in the wild woods. He dragged it down west to Honey Creek 
and set it up once more on its stilts, and for several years it 
resumed its former strains, but it finally went down and '" the lit- 
tle old man " went down also in death and all .was silent. The 
mill stones were removed and brought back by the writer three 
years ago from Marion County, where they had been converted by 
a blacksmith into doorsteps. They have been exhibited for several 
years at the old settlers' meeting in Glenn's Valley, and are still 
to be seen there. The history of White River Township could 
never be complete without reference to " the little old man " and 
his rattle-trap. 

THE DRESSLAR, OR TRESSLAR, FAMILY. 

The central part of White River Township drew largely on this 
family. Peter Tresslar (he and his family always use an initial 
T in spelling the name), came to the southwest part of the town- 
ship from Botetourt County, Ya., first alone, but soon with his 
family, and located on the southwest quarter Section 29, Township 
13 north. Range 3 east, on the 25th day of August, 1824. The old 
homestead is still owned by his youngest son, Jacob Tresslar. The 
labor of making: a farm no doubt caused his death. There was no 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 141 

physician near, so he had to rely on Judge Boaz for medical assist- 
ance. He left a widow, two daughters and five sons — V. M. 
Tresslar, Henry, Michael, John and Jacob — who by their industry 
and experience have contributed greatly to the wealth and pros- 
perity of the township. 

WILLIAM DUNN, ESQ., 

married a daughter of Peter Tresslar, and came with the family 
to White River Township. He was elected a Justice of the Peace 
a few years after his settlement here He was an honest man, 
highly esteemed, affable and kind. His aged widow yet lives. 

HENRY DRESSLAR, 
as he always wrote his name, was a full brother of Peter Tresslar, 
and came to Johnson County, from Botetourt County, Va., and 
settled in White River Township in 1829, on the southwest quar- 
ter of Section 16, Township 13 north, Range 3 east, and died 
there March 17, 1857, aged sixty-eight years and four months. 
He was a plain, honest, sober man. He left a widow and a small 
family of children. His widow lived up to the year 1879. His 
children still own the old homestead. 

WILLIAM DRESSLAR 

was from Botetourt County, Va. He settled on the southeast 
quarter of Section 16, Township 13 north. Range 3 east. He 
was the half brother of William and Peter Tresslar. He was a 
man of strictly temperate habits, well respected, industrious and 
economical, and made a good living. He died October 23, 1862, 
aged fifty-one years and two months. He left a family, a part of 
whom still reside in the township, and one of whom still owns the 
old homestead. 

THE SUTTON FAMILY. 

Elizabeth Sutton was the widow of Benjamin Sutton, of Preble 
County, Ohio, and mother of Jonathan and James Sutton. They 
constituted a family and lived on the northwest quarter of Section 
33, Township 14 north. Range 3 east, until Jonathan Sutton 
died, in the year 1826. They had emigrated only two years be- 
fore. He left a wife and one child. James Sutton died also, a 
few years after his brother, on the same farm. Also a son-in-law 
of Elizabeth Sutton, named Miner, and several of his children, 
died about the year 1826, on the same land. The widow contin- 
ued to reside in the neighborhood for many years after their 
death. She was an excellent woman, and full of religious fervor. 



if 



142 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

She was a skillful and efficient female doctor, and was of great 
service in nursing the sick. 

ISAAC AND JACOB SUTTON 

were brothers, and sons of James Sutton, and cousins of Jonathan 
and James Sutton. They emigrated from Preble County, Ohio. 
Isaac came first to Marion County, Ind., with a relative, in the 
vear 1821 or 1822, unmarried, and worked with unceasing efforts 
to earn money enough to buy a piece of land, earning the greater 
part of $100 by splitting rails at 25 cents a hundred. So soon as 
he had obtained the last piece, he started on foot to Brookville, the 
place of entry, to secure the prize, all the way fearing that, on exam- 
ination, some piece might be found spurious, for he possessed no 
reserve to fill the place. His money proved to be good, and he 
became the owner, on the 4th day of February, 1823, of the west 
half of the northeast quarter of Section 9, Township 13 north, 
Range 3 east, situate in White River Township.. This tract he 
ever afterward called the " home place," and, while he would 
give his children any part of his lands when he was distributing 
them, yet he always excepted the "home place." In the fall of 
1824 or 1825, he returned and married Alice Watts, and settled 
on the "home place," Avhere she still resides. Isaac Sutton, 
following up the policy of his early manhood, acquired about six 
hundred acres of as fine land as is in White River Township. 
He died February 18, 1869, aged sixty-four years and ten 
months. He left eight sons and daughters, but, since his death, 
one-half are already dead. 

JACOB SUTTON 

came to White River Township from Ohio, on foot, with a pack 
on his back and twenty-five or thirty dollars as the sum total of his 
wealth. He did not, however, sit down and repine over the 
smallness of his fortune, but, with a stout heart, went to work, 
and soon found the means to enter eighty acres of land for his 
home place, and he, moreover, called in an energetic assistant in 
the person of Abagail Doty, daughter of John Doty, the old pio- 
neer, by authority of Thomas Lowe, Esq., on the 21st day of 
November, 1825, and located on the east half of the southeast 
quarter of Section 18, Township 13 north, Range 3 east, near 
the Bluffs. By uniting a small tannery with his farm, and prac- 
ticing strict economy, he secured a competency, and, although the 
good wife has long since ceased her labors and gone to receive a 
glorious reward, yet the old pioneer still lives, and still manages, 
by taking in a widowed kinswoman, to run a house of his own. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 143 

He is stout and cheerful, and now seventy-eight years of age. 
He has two sons and a son-in-law in the township, who, in indus- 
try and economy and good citizenship, walk in the footsteps of 
their worthy, venerable and aged father. 

JOHN SUTTON, 

son of Jacob Sutton, is the finest example for a poor young man 
to emulate that can be found in Johnson County. Like his father, 
he began with little assistance, and, by patient, persevering in- 
dustry and economy, has acquired the means to purchase the old 
Col. VVishard farm, and also another tract adjoining — in all, about 
five hundred acres, being one among the finest farms in the 
county. He is also among the best farmers in the county. 

COL. JOHN WISHARD 

emigrated from Nicholas County, Ky., to White River Township, 
early in the fall of 1825, and located on the northwest quarter of 
Section 28, Township 14 north, Range 3 east. He soon ex- 
tended his ownership by the entry of 800 acres of the rich, over- 
flowed adjoining bottom lands. Assisted by the labors of six 
sons and hired help, he soon opened a large farm, extending 
nearly to White River. The bottom lands were protected from 
overflow by the erection of heavy embankments. But, in the 
midst of his success in business, his wife died, on the 12th day of 
August, 1849. She was a good woman, of unusual equanimity, 
prudence and economy. Although her death did not quite dis- 
solve his family, yet this, and the near approach to manhood of 
his sons, and the death of two of them, with the settled purpose 
of three of them to withdraw from the farm to qualify for profes- 
sional life, soon limited his operations. He soon made a disposi- 
tion of his farm for the benefit of his children, and thus, in great 
measure, withdrew from his accustomed laborious life. Two of 
his sons are eminent practitioners of medicine, and a third one 
eminent as a preacher in the Presbyterian Church, who has chosen 
a continent as the wide field of his evangelical labors. One only 
of his sons follows the vocation of a farmer. Two only of his 
daughters yet live — Mrs. Robert Jennings and Mrs. Dr. Noble. 
Col. Wishard was a man of great physical strength and activity 
in body, and of equal activity of mind. He was a military man, 
and was delighted with the pomp and display of military move- 
ipents. Soon after his arrival, he was elected Colonel of the 
county militia, the duties of which he continued to exercise with 
ability so long as these services were required by law. Ho was 
one of "the bloody three hundred " that volunteered in the Black 



144 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

Hawk war. None contributed more to build up and make this 
new country than Col. Wishard. In log-rollings, house-raisings 
and other field operations, he was always on hand. He was kind- 
hearted, and was at the bedside of the sick and dying on all oc- 
casions. If any were in distress and needed assistance, they had 
only to make it known to receive it. He often disobliged himself 
to accommodate others. No man suffered more in his family 
than he. From the year 1833 to 1851, six members died, and, 
during the last six years, his wife and two sons and a daughter — 
the last the youngest, aged fifteen years — died from malarial dis- 
eases. He was full of jocularity, but sometimes carried his jokes 
too far and gave offense. He was unique in his opinions, believ- 
ing that he was right, and they who differed with him, wrong, 
and was often surprised that others Avould not, or could not, be 
convinced by his arguments and see as he did. " You know bet- 
ter," was a set phrase with him. He was fond of political dis- 
cussions, and, when he became much interested in his subject, 
used strong language, which often estranged those with whom he 
was associated and who differed from him. This rendered him 
unpopular. He lived to a ripe old age, and died on the 8th day 
of September, 1878, aged seventy-eight years and two months, 
and sleeps, near' the scenes of his labors and sufferings, in the cem- 
etery at Genu's Valley. 

JOHN SMITH, 

son of Samuel Smith, is an emigrant from Lewis County, Ky., 
to Perry Township, Marion County, Ind., where he arrived on 
the 2od day of March, 1822. He was married to Nancy Dean 
at Lawrenceburg, Ind., January 18, 1821. In December, 1823, 
he bargained, together with William Stallcup, who was married 
to his sister, for eighty acres of land in White River Township, 
Smith getting the west, and Stallcup the east half. Here he 
remained two years, and then sold and entered the east half of the 
northeast quarter. Section 26, Township 14 north. Range 3 east, 
and continued there till 1832, when he again changed his loca- 
tion to the west half of the southeast quarter of Section 36, in 
said town and range, where he has remained ever since. Mr. 
Smith is a fine specimen of the old pioneer, and was subjected to 
as many hardships and labors as any man in the township. Sev- 
eral years since, three grown children died within a short time of 
typhoid fever. He is now eighty years of age and Mrs. Smith 
eighty-three. They had lived as husband and wife fifty-eight 
years, on the 23d day of March last. They are a good, honest, 
upright family. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 145 

JOHN M'COOL 
was a Pennsylvanian, who emigrated to Mercer County, Ky., 
and, in December, 1826, to White River Township. He was a 
good house carpenter, industrious and strictly honest. lie died 
September 25, 1840, aged sixty-three years and four months. 
He left a widow, but no children. His widow died in July, 1862, 
seventy-seven years of age. 

ROBERT R. LYONS 

was also a Pennsylvanian, but emigrated to Mercer County, Ky. 
He was out while he lived in that State on an expedition in the 
war of 1812, along with the Kentucky troops, where he did 
effective service and was . honorably discharged, and returned 
home in the beginning of the year 1813. He was married, dur- 
ing that year, to Jane Vanrarsdall. In the fall of 1825, he 
emigrated to the neighborhood of Greenwood ; here he remained 
two years and then located on the east half of the northeast 
quarter of Section 25, Township 14 north. Range 3 east, where 
be remained till the day of his death, February 22, 1878, aged 
eighty-five years ten months and twelve days. He was a tanner 
and farmer, industrious and economical, and no man could excel 
him in the performance of the arduous duties belonging to pio- 
neer life. Both he and Mrs. Lyons were hospitable and kind to 
a fault. She still survives him and is now eighty-seven years 
old, and still active in body and mind. The old homestead is 
owned and controlled by Mr. Carder and his good lady, the 
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lyons, and is still run in the same 
hospitable channel. Mr. Lyons left two sons, Harvey S. and John 
M., who adjoin the old homestead, and a daughter, Mrs. Jennings, 
of Franklin. Their character is sufficiently high among their 
neighbors and needs no commendation from the writer. 

CAPT. ROBERT C. WISHARD 

emigrated from Nicholas County, Ky., in the fall of 1823. His 
mother was a widow, and for several years before, as well as after 
coming to White River Township, they constituted a family. He 
settled on a charming tract of land, the west half of the southeast 
quarter of Section 27, Township 14 north, Range 3 east. He was 
industrious and lifted his ax with great effectiveness among the 
green timber. He married Miss Rebecca Smith soon after com- 
ing, who seconded every effort of her husband to secure a good 
living, and made him a most agreeable companion. The Captain 
was the first Constable, under Archibald Glenn, Esq., who was 



146 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

his brother-in-law, and was, soon after he came to the township, 
elected Captain of a company of militia composed of his neigh- 
bors. I can yet see him and his company drawn up on parade. 
The Captain was a large man and was well dressed in military 
costume ; his hat bore a tall red plume in its front, and now, with 
sword in hand, and in a sonorous voice that sounded afar off, he 
spoke, " Attention, the Company ! " He was a good officer, and 
few men could excel him in training a company in the elements of 
the military art. He was a great joker, a loud talker, and could 
laugh as loud as any man living, and no man did more to cheer 
the gloom of the desponding settler, and laugh away hypochon- 
dria than he ; he was open and free and kind hearted. He yet 
lives in Pleasant Township much changed by age from what he 
once was ; he had some faults and many good qualities ; we 
played and laughed and sported together in youth ; I cannot for- 
get him, with all his faults. 

HENRY GLENN 

was a brother of Archibald Glenn, Esq. He came to Indiana 
from Nicholas County, Ky., at the same time with his brother, 
and, although he owned land from the beginning, in the town- 
ship, was not willing to encounter its wildness. He, therefore, 
rented a farm in Decatur County and remained there two years. 
He came to White River Township in 182B, and immediately 
began to construct a mill to be propelled by the waters of Pleas- 
ant Run. The mill was adapted to grinding corn only, and had 
but a single run of nigger-head buhrs. It did well and supplied 
the township with meal for five or six years, Avhen it was super- 
seded by still better mills and went down. In 1827, he sold his 
mill and 240 acres of land to the Turner brothers and left for 
Illinois to better his condition. He was skillful, industrious and 
honest, and had an intelligent family. He has been dead many 
years. 

HENRY Hardin's family. 
Henry Hardin died in Nicholas County, Ky., in October, 
1825, leaving a widow, Catharine Hardin, and ten children — five 
males and five females. At the time of his death, he was making 
arrangements to move with all his children to Johnson County, 
Ind. He owned in White River and Perry Townships, Marion 
County, Ind., several hundred acres of land, and had also con- 
tributed to several of his children the means to purchase a home 
in Johnson County. Thomns and Benjamin, both married, came 
to White River Township in the fall of 1824. Thomas located 
on a part of Section 35 and 36 in Township 14 north. Range 3 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 147 

east, Benjamin on the southwest quarter of said Section 35, but 
before they had realized any benefits from their labors in 1830 and 
1831, sold out and moved to the State of Illinois. John Waddle 
and Mahlon Seybold, who married Hardin's daughter settled 
in White River Township. Waddle, after several years of hard 
labor, sold and also moved West. Mahlon Seybold lived many 
years in White River Township, held the offices of Assessor and 
Justice of the Peace to public acceptance, and died in Indianapolis 
in June, 1861. John Waddle and Samuel Doty operated a whip- 
saw for several years and made the first plank in the township 
cut with a saw. In October, 1827, the widow, with the rest of 
the family, arrived. In August, 1833, three single full-grown 
members of the family, Mark, Elihu and Elizabeth died in one 
week, in one room with congestive fever. Franklin, the young- 
est of the family alone remains, all but him being dead. In 1825, 
his mother and himself examined this county and saw many new 
things already told. He has held several public offices, and has 
contributed his mite to the welfare of the county. 

OTHER PIONEERS, 

The limits of the pioneers having been greatly extended, re- 
quires -brevity in order to include those we wish to notice. 

The Surface Family. — George Surface and his sons came 
from Virginia, and arrived at various dates from 1827 to 1832. 
Their names were John Surface, of Honey Creek ; John, Michael, 
William and David. 

John Surface, distantly related to the other John, was also 
a Virginian, and came in the fall of 1828. He died on October 
18, 1861, leaving only one son and several daughters. John R., 
the son, was an eminent preacher of the Christian denomination, 
and died on October 3, 1867. 

James Stewart, son-in-law of the last John Surface, came 
from the same place and at the same time. He died August 1, 
1851, leaving several sons and daughters. 

Peter Davis was a brother-in-law of John Surface. He came 
from the same place and at the same time. He left many years 
ago, and died in Iowa. 

Samuel Robinson was also a brother-in-law of John Surface, 
and came at the same time and from Virginia. 

John Shufflebarger and family came from Montgomery 
County, Va., in the fall of 1829. He died in 1862, leaving four 
sons and one daughter living. 

John Taylor came from Alleghany County, Va., in 1830. 
He still lives, hale and hearty. 



148 HISTORICAL SKETCH OP JOHNSON COUNTY. 

Berrien Reynolds came from Franklin County, Ind., De- 
cember 16, 1828. He still lives, hale and hearty. 

Samuel Watts came from Wayne County, Ind., perhaps in 
1823. He taught the first general school in the township. He 
only remained four or five years, and left. 

Andrew Pierce came to White River Township from Penn- 
sylvania, perhaps in 1823. He sold to James Stewart in 1829, 
and left the county. 

John McCord and his son-in-law, Robert Thomas, came 
early, perhaps in 1824. He is believed to have been from Ohio. 
He sold to Coonrod Brunnemer, and his sons George and William, 
in 1829, and left the county. 

Coonrod Brunnemer and his sons George and William, to- 
gether with Abraham Bishop, a son-in-law of Coonrod, were Vir- 
ginians. Coonrod died many years ago. William died August 
16, 1876, and George Brunnemer and Abraham Bishop are still 
living. 

Lewis Cagley was a brother to John Cagley, and died in Vir- 
ginia. His widow and son. Dr. Cagley (or, as he spelled his 
name, Kegley) moved to White River Township, perhaps in 1826. 
He married a daughter of John Doty. He practiced medicine 
and ran a farm. He is long since dead, and has left a successor 
in the medical art, Dr. John Kegley. 

William L. Woolford was a son-in-law of Lewis Kegley. 
He came with the family and died July 18, 1865, leaving a large 
family, who have left the State. 

Michael Pruner, was the old fife-major. Who among the 
present citizens of this county have not heard his loud, shrill fife? 
I applied for a land-warrant for him. I asked his name. He 
answered, " George Michael Pruner." Immediately the applica- 
tion returned saying, " We find no George Michael on the mus- 
ter-roll." Then I proved by a half-dozen Virginians that he was 
called George Michael, Michael George and Mike and George, 
indifferently. The warrant came right a long. He moved to 
the township in 1823. 

Andrew Brown, Jr., was said to be a relative of Andrew 
Brown, Sr. He died April 14, 1866, leaving a large family. 
He was a Virginian, and came in 1823. 

John and Jacob Groseclose, brothers, came to the township 
about 1824, from Virginia. John died here June 24, 1833. Ja- 
cob moved to Iowa in 1853, and died there. 

Henry Presser came from Kentucky to White River Town- 
ship in the fall of 1831. His son-in-law. Fox, an eminent 
school-teacher, came along, and ran a school for many years in 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 149' 

the township. Mr. Presser died many years ago. Only one son 
now remains, John M. Presser. He is the equal of the best 
farmer in White River Township. 

Nicholas Orme came from Lewis County, Ky.. and located 
in the north part of White River Township in 1829. He died 
in February, 1864, seventy-seven years of age. 

The Jennings Family. — Two sisters (both widows). Mary, 
widow of William Jennings, and Margaret Thompson, came from 
Kentucky in 1832 or 1838. Mrs. Jennings was the mother of 
Robert, William H. and Thompson P. Jennings. She died Septem- 
ber 12, 1851, sixty-two years and ten months old. Mrs Thomp- 
son died June 11, 1873, aged eighty-eight years two months and 
four days. 

Mr. Foglesong was an old Virginian, from Wythe County. 
He came at an early day to White River Township. He had 
several sons, only one, Jacob, now remaining in the township. 
The old man died about 1851. 

The Turner Brothers. — In the spring of 1828, an old 
widowed mother and three bachelor sons and one daughter lo- 
cated on the north part of Section 27, Township 14 north. Range 3 
east, 240 acres, as farmers. They were skilled in all kinds of 
labor, took great pains with everything they undertook, and sel- 
dom failed in success. They could manage the house as well as 
a skilled housekeeper ; could cook, wash, and, in short, could do 
any kind of housework. They had been halting along on the 
way for several years, but the children had been born in Penn- 
sylvania, and the old lady in Ireland. But they have all passed 
away except John Turner. He alone bears the name of Turner. 
They were good people. 

William Eddy came from Kentucky to White River Town- 
ship in the month of October, 1827, and located on the southwest 
quarter of Section 28. Township 14 north, Range 3 east. He 
had a wife and three children — two boys and one young woman. 
One of his sons soon died, leaving only two children in the fam- 
ily, Gideon and Miss Julia. The latter was married, first to Mr. 
Charles McBride, who died five or six years after the marriage, 
and afterward to Albert G. Prewitt, now of Greenwood, Ind. 
Prewitt and his wife are intelligent and kind, and long resided in 
White River Township, and enlivened it by their rich, cheerful 
conversation and hospitality. Mr. Eddy did not live to enjoy his 
farm, but was seized with congestive fever in September, 1833, 
and, after a few days of sickness, died. He was a man possessing 
unusual vigor of mind, and also extensive information. He was 
a kind-hearted and good old pioneer. 



150 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

Isaac B. Vorhies and his family moved to Greenwood from 
Mercer County, Ky,, in 1828, and, after nine or ten years, he 
moved further west into White River Township, where he contin- 
ued to live in perfect uprightness until the day of his death, March 
29, 1861, aged seventy years. His wife, Rachel B. Vorhies died 
December 25, 1879, aged seventy-eight years. 

Jesse Hughes, Esq., was a Tennesseean, and came to White 
River Township in 1829 or 1830. He, however, had lived on 
Whitewater after coming from Tennessee. He followed the bus- 
iness of a farmer and was a man of hard labor, soon clearing out 
a large farm in the green woods. He was several times licensed 
as an exhorter in the Methodist Church, and was always a lead- 
ing member of that denomination. He was once chosen a Jus- 
tice of the Peace. He had two wives. He died July 29, 1871, 
aged seventy-four years and eleven months. 




HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 151 



CHAPTER XIX. 

PLEASAN'T TOWNSHIP. 

There was not one of the pioneers of Johnson County, about 
whom so much has been written and spoken, and of whom so 
little is known, as Daniel Loper. In October, 1820, Simon 
Covert, Jacob Demaree, Prettyman Burton, George King and 
some others made a tour through Central Indiana, and, on their 
return, crossed White River at Whetzels, and followed his trace 
out to the crossing of the Indian trail, now within the limits of 
Pleasant Township. At that place a little cabin was newly built, 
the roof was partly on, and a family had just come up the trace 
from the east, and were ready to take possession. This is the 
first heard of Daniel Loper, the first white inhabitant of two 
townships of Johnson County — Pleasant and Clark. But Loper 
did not remain long in his cabin at the crossing. Nathaniel Bell, 
from Ohio, "entered him out" in December of 1821, and Loper 
moved over to Camp Creek. 

Bell was a man of bad character, so much so that persons 
hunting homes in the woods shunned him and his place ; and, 
unlike most other men who came in to stay at that date, he was 
not the founder of a neighborhood. It was currently reported of 
him, and generally believed, that he availed himself of the oppor- 
tunities that were presented to extort money from travelers who 
stopped at his cabin, by secreting their horses in the woods, and 
then, for a sufficient reward, returning the animals. 

As soon as settlers began coming in. Bell built a horse-mill, the 
first of the kind in the county. This was a very primitive affair, 
the tub in which the stone revolved being a section of a hollow 
sycamore, and the harness with which the horses were hitched to 
the levers being of rawhide. But Bell was an unworthy miller, 
and so managed the grists that came to his mill as to steal more 
of the corn and meal than he took by lawful toll. He wore the 
sleeves of his hunting shirt open and large, and he not only man- 
aged to pick up a few extra grains while tolling the grist, but, on 
the pretense of examining the meal as it came from the spout, he 
managed to catch in his open sleeves a good share of the meal, 
and then folding his arms about him he sauntered to his own 
chest or to his cabin and unloaded. Sometimes his victims 
would remonstrate with him, but his usual reply was, " Well, the 



1,52 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

little old man must live." On one occasion, it is said that the 
miller's sleeves being well gorged with meal, the horses took fright, 
ran away and knocked the mill stones from their frail scaflFolding, 
and otherwise damaged the property. Bell himself received a 
blow from the flying debris that knocked him down and scattered 
the meal stored in his ample sleeves. Shame or conscience so 
worked upon him that he promised to do better in the future, but 
his promise was soon broken ; he never mended his ways. For 
many years after the settlement of the county, every man's stock 
ran in the range, and hogs soon became wild, and, when fattened 
on the mast, were hunted and shot by their owners the same as 
were the deer. Bell, it was believed, made a practice of killing 
other men's hogs, and once at a log-rolling, Permenter Mullenix, 
who had lost hogs, charged Bell with the theft. Apparently 
much shocked that such a charge should be made, he went to 
Indianapolis and employed Judge Wick, then practicing law, and 
Calvin Fletcher, to prosecute Mullenix for slander. The action 
was accordingly begun, but Mullenix made good his defense by 
proving the charge to be true, whereupon the grand jury indicted 
Bell, and he was tried, convicted and sent to the penitentiary, the 
first convict sent from the county. 

In 1823, John B. Smock and Isaac Smock moved from Mercer 
County, Ky., and settled near the head- waters of Pleasant Run. 
A road was cut out to Franklin, but from thereon the Smocks 
were compelled to bush their own way, and they were two days 
about it. The next year their brother James followed them, and, 
in 1825, Garrett Brewer, Garrett Vandiver, Garrett Sorter, 
Robert Lyons and Joseph, John and Samuel Alexander also 
came. The Smock settlement was a half-way house between 
Franklin and Indianapolis, and from this may be accounted the 
fact of its comparatively slow growth for many years. Up to 
about 1830, it appears that the number moving in was quite 
small. In addition to those already mentioned may be named 
John Comingore, who came in 1826, Cornelius Smock in 1827, 
Alexander Wilson in 1828, and Isaac Voris in 1829. 

In 1824, the State road was cut out, and notwithstanding the 
country in the center and south side of the township was inclined 
to be wet, settlers shortly began making entries of land, and, in 
1828, David Trout, and a little later in the year James Tracy and 
hia grown sons, Nathaniel, Thomas and John, William Pierce and 
James Chenoweth built cabins and started clearings extending from 
the center of the township southward. All these men, excepting the 
Alexanders, who were Pennsylvanians, and David Trout, who 
was a Virginian, and had moved from Nineveh, were Kentuckians. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 153 

On the 4th day of May, 1829, Pleasant Township was created 
by striking off from White River all the territory east of the 
range line, making the west boundary the same as it now is ; but, 
up to 1838, Clark Township formed a part of Pleasant. Elec- 
tions were ordered to be held at the house of Isaac Smock, and 
Isaiah Lewis was appointed inspector. The township took its 
name from its principal stream, Pleasant Run. Two explanations 
have been given, accounting for the name of the creek, one of 
which is, that when the country was first settled the stream was a 
gently flowing, pleasant running stream ; and the other that it 
was the reverse of this, and the name was given by way of 
irony. 

Here, as everywhere else, it is difficult to fix upon the years 
when men moved in, but it is certain that an impetus was now 
given to immigration into the township. By mid-summer of 
1834, the following persons are known to have moved into and 
about the Smock neighborhood, to wit: the Comingores — Henry 
and Samuel — the McColloughs, John Lyons, Peter Whitenack, 
Samuel Eccles, the Henrys, Robert, Hiram and Samuel, J. D. and 
William Wilson, John and James Carson, Dr. William Woods, 
Wm. McGee and sons, William and Joseph Brenton, Marine D. 
West, Berryraan Carder and the Todds. All these were from Ken- 
tucky, except the Henrys, from Virginia, the Wilsons who were from 
North Carolina, the Woods, the McCulloughs and the Carsons who 
were from Tennessee. Lower down in the Tracy and Trout neigh- 
borhoods, Thomas Gant, the Hills, Littleton, Joseph, Squire and 
Charles, James Stewart, David Lemmasters, Reuben Davis, Will- 
iam McClelland, Daniel, David and John Brewer, Robert Smith, 
Abraham Sharp, and probably others, moved in, while over 
toward the southeast corner and east side came in Thomas Gra- 
ham and his three sons, Samuel, James and Archibald, and also 
Lewis Graham, Isaac Clem and Andrew McCaslin, followed soon 
after by Ashford Dowden, Abraham Banta, Solomon Steele, 
Jacob Peggs and others. By the close of 1834, persons were 
located all over the township, but it could not be said to be fairly 
inhabited before 1840. 

The first sermon pi'eached in Pleasant Township was at the 
house of John C. Smock, in 1824, by the Rey. George Bush, 
who afterward became a professor in a theological school in New 
York, and wrote "Bush's Notes on the Gospels," and a life of 
Mohammed. A Presbyterian Church was organized in the 
Smock neighborhood, the first in the township, after which a 
meeting-house was built, which was used for a time as a school- 
house. 



154 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 



About 1828, James Richabaugh undertook to operate a cotton 
spinning factory and a carding macbine in a frame building. He 
put it up a mile or less south of the present town of Greenwood, 
but his venture proved a failure. 

Pleasant Township is favorably located. It has a thrifty, 
industrious people, who are blessed with a good soil, and who 
have had the enterprise to utilize their gravel deposits in the 
building of gravel roads. 




HISTORICAL SKETCH OP JOHNSON COUNTY. 155 

CHAPTER XX. 

HENSLEY TOWNSHIP. 

On the 10th of March, 1799, Richardson Hensley was born 
near Fredericksburg, in Virginia. While he was yet a child, 
his father moved to Fayette County, Ky., after which he moved 
to Mercer County, where, in 1800, Richardson was married to 
Miss Elizabeth Cully. In the war of 1812, he served as a First 
Lieutenant on the frontier ; and in March, 1825, he brought his 
family to Johnson County, hunting for a home, after having 
spent a year in Jackson County, this State. Accompanying 
him was William Davenport, a North Carolinian, and William 
Mitchell, a Virginian, his sons-in-law, and their families. Five 
or six families were living in around Edinburg, and at the Nineveh 
settlement the road ended. Stopping at some point at the time 
not now known, but probably on the Nineveh, Hensley and his com- 
panions made a tour through the woods, and selected the central 
part of Congressional Township 11, Range 3, on the banks of 
Indian Creek, as the place for their homes. Among the woods- 
men of that day Curtis Pritchard stood at the head, and, employ- 
ing him to select the best route through the wilderness from 
Nineveh to Indian Creek for a road, he went ahead, with horn 
in hand, and at intervals would wind a blast as a signal to the 
axmen to cut through the woods to his vantage-ground. Select- 
ing a quarter section, cornering with the center of the Con- 
gressional township, Hensley put up a cabin, and then, on the 
17th of February, he entered the first tract of land in the town- 
ship that was occupied by a pioneer. 

In 1823, three hundred and twenty acres had been taken up 
in the northeast corner of the township, and at the same time 
two hundred and forty acres just across the township line, now 
in Union, by David Scott. But Scott never came to his pur- 
chases ; and many were the conjectures accounting for it indulged 
in by those who knew of the " Scott lands." The most popular 
of these was, that he had been murdered before reaching home, 
after his entry had been made; and it was seventeen years after 
the purchase before it was learned that Scott was a trader, living 
at Cheat Neck, near Morgantown, in Virginia, and that he had 
invested the proceeds of a trading voyage to New Orleans in 
Congress lands in Johnson, Bartholomew, Shelby and other 
counties in Indiana, and then had returned to his home and re- 



156 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

ported to his creditors the loss of his cargo in the Mississippi, 
and made with them a composition of his debts. But his fraud 
availed him nothing, for shortly after he came to his death by 
being thrown from his horse, and his secret died with him. 
Not even had he divulged it to his wife and daughter. William 
Y. Johns, a young man living in Scott's neighborhood, being 
lured to Johnson County about 1837, by the memory of an old 
sweetheart, and remaining here, was elected to the office of County 
Treasurer, in 1844, and the " Scott lands" coming under his 
notice, he made the discovery that they had been entered by his 
old neighbor from Cheat Neck. William Y. Johns' brother was 
then married to Scott's only daughter ; and the widow, who was 
still living, and the daughter, came to Indiana. And although 
the " Scott lands " had long been sold at tax sales, they were 
partially redeemed. 

Hensley cleared a little field in the woods the first spring, and 
planted it in corn ; but the wild turkeys invaded his field and 
scratched, the seed out of the ground. Replanting and keeping 
the turkeys away, when the little crop was raised the squirrels 
came and did great damage. After these, a band of forty well- 
dressed, well-mounted Miami Indians came and encamped on 
Indian Creek — so called because it was a famous Indian resort in 
the early times — and although they had plenty of money, they 
begged and stole everything they wanted. Hensley's corn patch 
was peculiarly tempting to them ; and in spite of his best reso- 
lutions and utmost vigilance, they carried his corn away by the 
armfuls. 

The same spring that Ilensley, Mitchell and Davenport came 
in, John Stephens, from Tennessee, and Nathaniel Elkins, from 
Kentucky, came ; and some time during the last of the year, 
Peter Titus from Ohio, settled on what has since been known as 
the Bridge's farm. In the fall of that year, it is believed that 
Charles and Mitchel Ross settled on the west line of the town- 
ship, and about the same time Richard Perry must have moved 
into the northeast corner. 

The township grew rapidly in population. The lands along 
Indian Creek were peculiarly inviting to land-hunters, who had 
traversed the level lands of the country in search of suitable 
locations, and immigrants came trooping in. At least twenty 
men came in and bought, and more than half that number moved 
in. Of these, Isaac Holeman, Henry Mussulman, Arthur Bass, 
Albert Roberts, John Schrem, John and Lewis Shouse and Aaron 
Holeman may be mentioned. By the close of 1833, more than 
fifty families had moved in; and while it would seem to be 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 157 

impossible at this time to make any degree of classification as to 
the time when these came in, or even to give the names of all, 
yet the following may be set down as being early settlers, to wit : 
James Taggart (who was afterward killed at the battle of Buena 
Vista), William Skaggs, Holland Jones, John Brunk, Nicholas 
Hobbs, Hiram Porter, Reason and John Slack, John Voris, 
Simpson Sturgeon, Montgomery Smith, Andrew Underwood, 
Leonard Leffler, John McNutt, William Mitchell, Tiiomas Lyman, 
S. W.Weddle, Thomas Lockhart, Thomas Alexander, John Clark, 
Jesse Wells, Samuel Fleener, Hiram T. Craig, John Boland, 
Samuel Woollard, Frederick Ragsdale, George Bridges, William 
Clark, Abraham Massey, McKinney Burk, Avery M. Buckner, 
Levi Petro, James Wiley, Elijah Moore, Stith Daniel, Thomas 
L. Sturgeon, James Forsyth, David and Uriah Young, Godfrey 
Jones, R. W. Elder, James Hughes, George White, Richard Joliffe 
and Perry Baily. 

Hensley was the fourth township, in point of time, organized 
in the county. At the March term of the Board of Justices, in 
1827, the organization took place and the name was bestowed upon 
the suggestion'of the late Samuel Herriott, in honor of its founder. 

The elections, for twenty years, were held at the house of 
Richardson Hensley, after which the place was changed to Henry 
Mussulman's house. 

In 1834, Henry Mussulman opened the first store in the town- 
ship, and sold goods for many years. He was a very active man, 
but totally devoid of book education. He could neither read nor 
write, and yet, for a great many years, he carried on business 
successfully. But what is the more remarkable, he did a credit 
business and kept accounts in his peculiar fashion. He knew 
and could make figures, however, and could carry on processes 
of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division mentally. 
His accounts he kept by marking upon the walls of his store- 
room with a nail or pencil. Every customer had his own place of 
account allotted to him, and so well trained was Henry Mussul- 
man's memory that he never forgot the right place, nor the 
meaning of his marks, nor did any man ever dispute his account. 
One story is told, and vouched for as being true, tending to show 
that it was possible for him to forget, and it is this : A debtor 
came and called for a settlement and among the items charged 
was a cheese. "But I never bought a cheese of you in my life," 
said the debtor. "Didn't you? Well, what did you get? 
Think!" and the debtor thought. "Ah," said he, light break- 
ing, after a pause, "Yes, I got a grindstone." " Oh, so you did, 
I forgot to put the hole in it." 



158 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

On another occasion, when Mussulman was in Madison buying 
goods, a merchant, with whom he was dealing, asked him how he 
managed to know what per cent to put on his goods, seeing that 
he was unacquainted with letters. " Well, I don't know any- 
thing about your per cent, but I do know that when I buy an 
article of you for one dollar and take it out to my place and sell it 
for two, that I am not losing anything." He could and did mark 
the cost price on his goods, however, but no one understood it 
save himself After his son, George W., grew up he procured 
books and had George to keep his accounts, but so retentive was 
his memory that he could and often did sell goods all day, and at 
night repeat the exact quantities of goods sold, to whom sold, 
and at what price. 




HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 159 

CHAPTER XXI. 

UNION TOWNSHIP. 

The political township of Union is co-extensive with the Twelfth 
Congressional township in the third range. The township is well 
watered. The North Fork, South Fork, Middle Fork and Kootz's 
Fork of Stott's Creek, flow westerly, partly through and out of 
this township, and draining into the White River. Moore's Creek 
takes its rise in the northeast part, and runs into Young's Creek 
to the east. The table lands lying upon the divide between the 
head- waters of the Stott's Creek and the Youngs Forks Creek tribu- 
taries, and also between the North, South and Middle "Forks," 
ai'e level, and at the time of the settlement of the county, were 
extremely wet. 

These table lands are the true highlands of the township, and 
from their level to White River the fall is great. Hence, the 
streams flowing westward, have, during the lapse of ages, cut deep 
channels through the soils and clays, and the high banks left on 
either side, have, by the action of rain, frost and other agencies 
of nature, been molded into hills and knobs, which are now gen- 
erally known as broken lands. 

Some time in 1823, Bartholomew Carroll moved from Kentucky 
by the way of the Three Notched Line road, then newly cut out, 
and found his way through the brush to the South Fork of Stott's 
Creek, and settled in Section 34, where John Vandiver afterward 
built a mill. Carroll had a family, consisting of his wife, three 
sons, William, John and Samuel, and two girls. The grandfather 
of his children lived with him — a very aged man, who died, it is 
said, when he was one hundred and ten years old. Bartholomew 
Carroll was a genuine backwoodsman. He spent his time in the 
wilderness hunting game and wild honey. The country about him 
was well stocked with all kinds of game, common to the country, 
and an experienced bee-hunter could take honey in vast quanti- 
ties. It is said that Carroll would sometimes have as many as 100 
bee-trees marked in the woods at a time. 

There is some uncertainty as to the time when many of the 
pioneers moved into Union Township. It is next to impossible 
at this time to get the names of all who came in or the time 
when they came. In fifty years, much that was at the time of in- 
terest sinks into oblivion. 

Growing upon the farm entered by Peter Vandiver is a beech 



160 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

tree, bearing in its rough bark, this date : " 16th October, 1826," 
Strother Vandiver, then a good sized boy, cut this inscription in that 
tree, to commemorate the day of his father's arrival upon the eighty- 
acre tract which he immediately entered. With Vandiver, when 
he moved from Mercer County, Ky., came his old neighbors John 
Garshwiler, Joseph Simpson and Mrs. Christina Garshwiler. 
These settled over on the east side of the township. The same 
year, Thomas Henderson, living at the Big Spring, notified 
Simon Covert that a family had moved into the woods some miles to 
the west, and proposed they should go and see who it was. Taking 
their axes with them, they at length found Mrs. Gwinnie Utter- 
back, a widow, with a family of eiglit sons — Corban, Laban, 
Henry, Hezekiah, Perry, Joseph, Elliot and Samuel, and a daugh- 
ter, Rebecca, encamped by the side of a log, a little south of the 
present site of Union Village. Joining their help with the boys, 
Henderson and Covert soon had a cabin of poles raised and a 
shelter provided for the family. These are all who are now 
believed to have made settlements that year. 

In 1827, George Kepheart moved to the township, and settled 
in Section 23, and the same year, Alexander Gilmer settled in 
the northeast corner. 

In 1828, there was growth. Nearly 2,000 acres were entered 
this year by twenty-two men, and at least ten or twelve moved in. 
Peter Zook and Samuel Williams and Henry Banta, stopped in 
the Vandiver neighborhood ; Jacob List and Philip Kepheart 
located near the east boundary line of the Congressional town- 
ship ; Benjamin Utterback moved near to his sister-in-law, who 
came in the year before, while Adam Lash and James Rivers 
moved farther to the north, and John Mitchel still further out, 
but toward the northwest corner of the township. Jesse Young 
located on the northwest quarter of Section 27. 

Rock Lick was a famous resort for deer during the early times. 
There was not probably in all the county a deer lick that equaled 
it. For miles and miles in every direction, run-ways led to it. 
Jesse Young, who had settled on the Nineveh in 1825, and who 
was much of a hunter, visited this place, and was so impressed 
with the enormous mast crops produced by the groves of white 
oak timber growing thereabout, that he determined to make his 
home in the neighborhood. Accordingly, some time before he 
moved, he drove his hogs to the oak forests, and built a camp not 
far from the lick. Here he hunted, tended his hogs and read his 
Bible and Young's Night Thoughts. With these two books he was 
quite familiar, and in his old age it was his habit to interlard his 
discourse with apt quotations, especially from the last-named work. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 161 

Young was a strict observer of Sunday, and on one occasion it is 
said he lost his reckoning, and kept the Jewish Sabbath instead 
of the Christian. The next morning he went into the woods, and 
killing a deer, brought it into camp. Soon a party of hunters 
came by, and finding Young engaged with a deer newly killed, they 
reminded him of his Sunday principle. But he vindicated him- 
self by assuring them that he had kept the day before, which 
was Sunday. A re count of the time convinced him that he was 
mistaken, and after disposing of his venison, he turned into camp 
and kept the rest of the day as sacred. 

Young carried a large-bored and far shooting ride, which he 
aflfectionately named " Old Crate." At the time he went to the 
Nineveh, a white deer was known to range the woods in the west 
and southwest parts of the county, and every hunter was natur- 
ally anxious to secure that particular game. But tliis deer became 
exceedingly shy, and it must have been two or three years after 
it was first seen before it fell a victim to a ball from " Old Crate." 
Young killed it, firing from a great distance. 

Another of the successful hunters of Union Township was Robt. 
Moore, who afterward was elected to the office of Associate Judge. 

In 1829, ten more men with their families moved into Union. 
Robert Moore and Joseph Young into what afterward came to be 
known as the Shiloh neighborhood, and William Bridges,^John 
James, near Vandiver's place, and WilUiam Kepheart, James 
Vaughan in the Utterback neighborhood, and Henry Graselose, 
toward the northwest corner. Peter Bergen and Andrew Car- 
nine moved into the east side adjoining the Hopewell neighbor- 
hood. About the same time John Mullis settled near Rock Lick. 

The next year, Garrett Terhune settled at the Three Notched 
Line road, near Vandiver's. Gideon Drake moved out to within a 
mile of the Morgan Countv line. Bennett, Austin and William 
Jacobs moved up to the north side. Nicholas Wyrick settled on 
the North Fork of Stott's Creek, and David and Cornelius Lyster 
moved over to the east side. 

By the close of this year, about forty families were living in the 
township, as now constituted, and on the 5th day of July previous. 
Union Township was organized by an order of the Board of Jus- 
tices. As then bounded, it was much larger than it is now. One 
tier of sections now on the south side of White River was 
attached, and two tiers extending the entire west side of Frank- 
lin, and two sections out of the southwest corner of Pleasant. 
From time to time, however, changes have been made in the 
boundary lines of the township, until they have been reduced to 
the Congressional township lines. 



162 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

In 1831, Isaac Knox, John McColgin and Joshua Hammond, 
who were Virginians, settled in the northwest corner on the North 
Fork of Stott's Creek. Willis Deer and Wesly, his brother, and 
John L. Jones settled near Mrs. Utterback ; John Henderson to 
the northwest of them some miles ; George Kerlin and Peter 
Shuck on the east side of the township, and Garrett Vandiver not 
far from the present site of Bargersville, while Serrill Winchester 
and Jacob Core moved into Jesse Young's vicinity. 

The next year, Jacob Banta and Samuel Throgmorton moved 
in, and in 1833, Daniel Newkirk, the gunsmith, Peter D. Banta, 
Peter Banta, David Demaree, John Knox, John Gets, Joshua 
Landers and, probably, Jesse Harris, Peter Voris and John Shuck. 

The families moving into the North Fork neighborhood were 
nearly or quite all Virginians, but all the others, with but few 
exceptions were Kentuckians. Garrett Terhune was New Jersey 
born but moved from Kentucky. Jesse and Joseph Young, 
Gideon Drake and Robt. Moore were from Ohio. Out of more than 
seventy families referred to, three-fourths were from Kentucky. 

The growth of the township was slow, but those who came, 
came to stay, and the work of improvement went on. In 1828, 
Peter Vandiver built a horse-mill, the first mill in the township, 
which was run night and day, and supplied the country for a 
great distance around with bread. In 1832, George Kerlin put up 
a horse-mill, which was long a place of general resort for grinding 
wheat and corn. About 1834, John Vandiver built a mill on the 
South Fork of Stott's Creek, where Carroll had settled, and in 
about two years after, John Young built one lower down on the 
same stream, and Thomas Slaughter put one up near Rock Lick, 
on the Middle Fork. 

Up to the introduction of underground draining, the level 
lands of Union Township were not esteemed as of very great 
value, but since the era of ditching has set in, there has been a 
great and wonderful development in everything that goes to make 
up the welfare of a people. 

The township has ever been remarkable for the absence of 
gross violations of law. But one murder has ever occurred with- 
in its precincts, and that was the murder of Peter T. Vannice, in 
1863, by a stranger to the place whom Vannice employed on his 
farm. Taking advantage of his employer, he shot him down in 
his own door-yard, and then robbed him of his money and fled, 
with a gun, up the Three Notched Line road toward Indianapolis. 
George F. Garshwiler and some others gave pursuit, and on over- 
taking the murderer near Greenwood, he turned aside and shot 
himself dead. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 163 

CHAPTER XXII. 

CLARK TOWNSHIP. 

The territory now organized into Clark Township originally 
formed a part of White River, and, from 1829, when Pleasant 
was organized, up to 1838, it formed a part of that township. 
In the last-named year, Clark Township, with boundaries as at 
present, was set off from Pleasant, and the name was bestowed 
by virtue of the Clark family, which settled, at an early day in 
its history, in the northern part of the township. 

This township was the youngest of the sisterhood of townships 
in Johnson County, and was unfavorably located for early settle- 
ment. Sugar Creek touches upon the southeast corner, and 
Leatherwood and Flat Creek, having their sources near the north 
boundary line, flow southward and unite their waters in what was 
known as the Great Gulf, in the early years of the county's his- 
tory, and from the" south side of the gulf, the waters of Little 
Sugar flowed down to Big Sugar. In the west side, and well 
up toward the north boundary, Whetzel's Camp Creek, or, as it 
is now called, the Hurricane, takes its rise, and sends its waters 
creeping down to Young's Creek, at Franklin. All these, ex- 
cepting Big Sugar and Little Sugar, for a few miles above its 
mouth, were sluggish streams. The traveler on the Jeffersonville 
Railroad will observe, a mile south of Greenwood, quite a cut 
through a ridge of land. This ridge extends eastward from that 
point, and into Clark Township a distance of nearly, or quite, 
eight miles from Greenwood, where it bends to the northeast and, 
running parallel to Sugar Creek, ends in Shelby County. All 
of Clark Township north of the south line of this ridge is high 
ground, and here did the work of settlement take its firmest hold 
in the beginning. The banks of Sugar Creek, being drained by 
that stream, afforded comparatively dry sites for cabins, but nearly 
all the rest of the land of the township, excepting the high 
ground in the north, was exceedingly wet and swampy. 

In 1820, as we have seen, Daniel Loper built a cabin at the 
crossing of the Great Indian Trail and Whetzel's Trace, in Pleas- 
ant Township. Shortly after, Nathaniel Bell entered the land at 
the crossing, and, some time in 1821, Loper moved back on the 
Whetzel Trace, to Whetzel's old camp on Camp Creek, where he 
made the first permanent home that was made in the township. 
How long he remained here is not known. John Varner, an old 



164 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

man who lived with him, died in his cabin within a short time 
after it was built, and Loper, with the assistance of Peter Doty 
and Nathaniel Bell, buried him in a walnut trough. Not long 
after, Loper disappeared, but no one knows where he went. A 
deserted " Loper's cabin," seen by Thomas Walker in Hendricks 
County some years after he left, gives rise to the surmise that he 
may have gone there. The circumstances attending the death 
and burial of John Varner, and Loper's disappearance shortly 
after, gave rise to a belief current among the first settlers that 
Loper was a murderer. After he left, his place was a great 
camping-ground for travelers, and the more superstitious sort 
sometimes told of seeing ghosts of the murdered dead. But. 
from all that can be learned, it would seem that Loper was a 
thriftless frontiersman, and, becoming disturbed by the encroach- 
ing settlements at White River, Blue River and Sugar Creek, 
moved away. 

At a very early time, John Ogle moved into the southeast cor- 
ner — some authorities say as early as 1821, but others put it a 
year later. In 1822, a settlement was made on the east side of 
Sugar Creek, in Shelby County, b}'^ Joseph Reese, John Webb 
and some others, and, attracted by this, a few men came quite 
early into Clark Township, on the west side of the creek. In 
1822, William and John McConnell moved in, and I think that 
John Ogle did not come until the same year. 

It is extremely difficult, at this time, to ascertain with any 
degree of certainty, the dates of arrival of the first and subsequent 
settlers ; but, next after Loper's cabin, and the Sugar Creek settle- 
ment, pioneers began moving upon the highlands in the north. 
The first one to go in was Hugh McFadden, and the second. Glen 
Clark. Both were here in 1825, and the probability is that both 
came that year. In 1826, there moved into the settlement thus 
begun, John L. McClain and Alexander Clark, from Kentucky, 
and three Hosiers, Robert, Jacob and Abraham. The next year, 
James and Moses McClain and Robert Ritchey came in from Ken- 
tucky, and Moses Raines, from Virginia. The year after, Jacob 
McClain, from Kentucky, and the year after that, Thomas Clark 
and Thomas Robinson, Kentuckians, and Edward Wilson and 
Samuel Billingsly, North Carolinians. In 1832, David Justice, 
Abraham Jones, Matthias Parr and James Kinnick, from North 
Carolina ; and, in 18o3, Andrew Wolf, George Wolf, Tennesseeans, 
and all those mentioned above, save the few Sugar Creek settlers, 
and David Parr and John Fitzpatrick went into the neighborhood 
of Loper's old cabin. In 1834, there was quite an influx of 
immigrants : Allen Williams, John Tinkle, Robert Farnsworth,, 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 165 

David Farnsworth, Henry Farnswortb, Aaron Huffman and 
Daniel McLean, Tennesseeans, and Henry White, Ellis White, 
Joseph Hamilton, Henry Grayson and Taylor Ballard, Kentuck- 
ians, and Charles Dungan, a Virginian ; John Eastburn, a North 
Carolinian, and Oliver Harbert, born in Dearborn County, Ind., 
moved to the township in 1834. 

Clark Township was now filling up quite fast. The following 
persons are believed to have moved in during the year 1835, 
to wit : Joseph Hamilton, Theodore Vandyke, John Wheatly, 
Lyman Spencer, Parker Spencer, Caleb Davidson, Conrad Mc- 
Clain, Thomas Portlock and Samuel McClain ; and James Will- 
iams, David McGauhey, John Harbert and James White, followed 
the next year, while James Magill, David McAlpin and Jacob 
Halfaker came in 1837. 

In May, 1838, Clark Township was organized, and it was 
ordered that the elections be held at the house of Jacob Hosier. 

The Leatherwood Schoolhouse, erected on the land of Charles 
Dungan in 1838, was the first one built, and scholars came a 
distance of three miles through the woods to attend the first 
school taught therein by a Mr. Fifield, who was a Christian 
preacher, and, by courtesy, addressed as " Doctor." The first 
church was organized by the United Brethren, under the leader- 
ship of George Rubush and William Richardson. The first 
blacksmith-shop was opened by John Wheatly. The first tannery 
was started by Allan Taylor, aud he and Henry Byrely opened 
the first store. 

The swamp, known to the early settlers of the county as the 
Great Gulf, and through which Jacob Whetzel cut his road when 
he came to the country, but which road was found to be untravers- 
able. was long regarded as irreclaimable. Water stood in it save 
in the driest times of the year, and it was covered by immense 
forests of timber and dense thickets. The greater part of the 
Gulf was entered by Jacob Barlow in 1834-35, but no attempt 
was made to drain, or otherwise improve it, until about 1853. 
In that year, John Barlow, his son, moved into the Gulf, and 
entered upon the work of clearing and draining, and has made of 
it one of the best farms of the county. 

In the early settlement of the county, the Gulf was a famous 
game resort, *nd, as the country came to be cleared off, this was 
the last place the wild beasts left. Another celebrated game 
resort was the "■ Windfall," across the Marion County line, and, 
as late as 1840, hunters were in the habit of organizing a '• drive " 
of deer from one to the other place, while the sharp-shooters 
stationed on the run-way between, brought down the game. 



166 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 

In 1854, a deer was shot and killed between Barlow's house 
and barn, and, in the same year, a catamount, in broad daylight, 
chased his hogs, and, in their fright, they ran into the dwelling- 
house for protection. The same summer, forty-seven wild turkeys 
came feeding close around the house, and, in 1856, a wild turkey 
made a nest within fifty yards of the house, and brought out a 
flock of young ones. As late as 1860, a man became lost in the 
woods on the lower end of the Gulf, and was compelled to lie out 
overnight. 

But a great change has taken place in Clark Township. The 
timber has been cleared away, and the natural drains opened. 

In 1865, Thomas Campbell and John Dean, Irishmen, moved 
in and bought wet lands, and at once began the work of drainage 
on a more extensive scale than theretofore practiced. Since then, 
about thirty Irish families have moved in, and the work of ditching 
has been rapidly carried on by both native and foreign born, and 
such changes made as warrants the belief that Clark Township in 
a few years will rank as one of the wealthiest townships in the 
county. 




HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 167 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

NEEDHAM TOWNSHIP. 

Since the foregoing historical sketch has been written and 
placed in the hands of the printer, the County Commissioners 
have, in pursuance of the authority conferred by statute law, di- 
vided Franklin Township into two parts and organized the east 
part into a new township by the name of Needham. The new 
township contains a fraction less than thirty-five sections, leaving 
to the old a fraction over that number. This act of the board 
was done on the 16th of March, 1881, and at the same time the 
voting precinct of the new township was established at School- 
house No. 9, near the residence of James Tilson. 

The following appointments of officers for the new township 
were also made, to wit : William Clark, Township Trustee ; John 
Owens, Justice of the Peace ; David Keay, Constable, and Lloyd 
Adams, Assessor. 

Needham being the ninth township organized in the county, 
the board gave it that as its number in the numerical order of 
townships, and it was assigned to District No. 2 for Commissioners' 
purposes. 

An account of the land purchases, first settlers, and other 
matters local to the township, will be found in the chapter on 
Franklin Township. 




168 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 



POPULATION OF JOHNSON COUNTY BY TOWN- 
SHIPS. 





1870. 


1880. 


TOWNSHIPS. 


Native. 


Foreign. 


Total. 


Total. 


Blue River 


2415 
1650 
1418 
5406 
2-539 
1658 
1642 
2153 
1460 
1730 


158 
149 

56 
204 
168 

10 
8 

17 
6 

25 


2573 
1799 
1474 
5610 
2707 
1668 
1650 
2170 
1466 
1755 


2718 


Edinburg Town 


1815 


Clark 


1343 




*5929 


Frankliu City 


3115 




1734 




1682 


Pleasant 


2572 


Union 


1480 


White River 


2089 






Total 






18366 


19547 









''' Includes what is now Needham Township, the division being made after census was taken. 



INDEX. 



Adventures, Hunters 63, 64, 06 

Agent, County 31,32,74 

Allowances by Board of Comrais8ioiierd...71, 73 

Anecdotes 116, 118, 119, 152, 157, 15S, 161 

Appraisers of Real Estate 105 

Attorneys, District 105 

General 101 

" Prosecuting 104 

Baptist 66, 67, 115 

Battle, Indian 127, 128 

Bartholomew County Settled 10 

Beaver Ponds 10 

Berry, Richard 19, 20, 108 

Bell, Nathaniel 39, 46, 48, 114, 139, 151, 152 

Big Spring, The 22, 37 

Burkharts, The 22 

Burial, Primitive '. 47,109,164 

Board of Commissioners 30, 31, 70, 75 105 

Board of Justices 70,75 

Blue Kiver Township, 20, 30, 32, 35, 36, 65, 67, 
108, 109, 110. 

Bluffs of White River 10, 25 

Brandywine Creek — Origin of Name 11 

Camp Creek 10, 44, 47, 48, 151, 163 

Campbell, John 21,108 

Carroll, Bartholomew 41 

Clark Township 20, 41, 73, 151, 163, 164, 165 

Clark's, Gen. Geo. Rogers, Campaign 7 

Clarke, Murston G., Befriends Geo. King.... 27 

Clearing Lands 51, 54, 58, 124, 125 

County, Johnson, Organic Act, 27 ; Origin of 
Name, 28; First Officers, 28 ; Government 
Organized, 29 ; Topography, 49 ; Primitive 
Condition, 50; Conduct of Business, 70; 
Revenue, 73, 74; Divided into Commis- 
sioners' Districts, 75; Names of Public 
Offices, 101, et seq. 

Counties, Contest for Organization of 24 

County Treasurer's Report 73 

Court, first meets at John Smiley's; 33 

" Constitution of 33,82 

Court House — First one built, 32 ; Second, 74 ; 
Third, 80; Fourth, 81. 

Court House Destroyed by Fire 80 

Courts, Scarcity of Business in 85, 86, 89 

" Rapidity of Trials in 85 

Court, Probate— Established, 84 ; Abolished, 85 
" Common Pleas — " 85 ; " 85 

Commissioners Locate County Town 31 

Board of 70,105 



Corn Planting 55 

Covert, Simon, Settles near the Big Spring.. 37 

Covert's Creek 116 

Congressional Representatives 101 

Customs of Early Lawyers 86 

Deaths, first in the County 109, 115, 118, 130 

Deer — Numerous, 63 ; Dangerous when Wound- 
ed, 64; The White Deer, 101; Last one 
Killed, 166. 

Deer Licks 23,24, 160 

Delaware Indians 9, 16, 17, 127, 128, 129 

Durbin, Amos, First Settler in Nineveh 22 

Drift Wood, Indian Name of 19 

Edinburg 35, 80, 110, 111, 119 

Educational 67, 115, 118, 119, 138, 153, 165 

Elections 29, 114 

Emigration to the State 15, 19 

E.\aminer, Franklin 79, 89, 96 

Financial Distress 76 

Finch, F. M 84, 86 

Fish, Abundance of. 10 

Franklin 24, .31, 32, 66, 80, 116, 117, 118 

Franklin Township 20, 22,37, 38, 66 

Franklin College 119 

Freshet, Great 7ii 

Game, Abundance of 8, 18, 24, 45, 46, 165 

Governors and Lieutenant Governors 100 

Ginseng 68 

Grand Jury, First 33 

Gulf, Great 10, 44, 45, 165 

Hardin, Judge 42, 52, 58, 147 

Hard Times 118, 123 

Hensley, Richardson 40, 155 

Hensley Township 20, 40, 41, 73, 155, 156, 157 

Herriott, Samuel 23, 29, 31, 44, 61, 74, 87, 157 

Hicks, Gilderoy 88 

Honey Creek, Origin of Name 10 

Hopewell Neighborhood 37, 117, 118 

Hospitality, Instances of. 34, 114, 160 

House Raising 61 

High Waters 53, 78 

Hurricane Creek, 10; Origin of Name, 44. 

Hurricane, Track of. 24 

Hunting 45, 63, 64, 160 

Indiana, Admitted as a State and Popula- 
tion of !;> 

Indian Trail 8, 19, 20, 22,39, 108, 114 

Indians Alarm Whetzel's Camp 9 

Indians, Delaware ;», 16, 17, 127, 128, 129 

" " Boundary Line of. 15 



INDEX. 



Indian Murder at the Bluffs 14 

Indians, Moral Condition of 17 

" Nosey's Tragical Death 17 

" Miami Occupation 16 

Indian Towns and Camps 18, 45, 127, 156 

Indianapolis Laid Out 20, 24 

Insect Life 56 

Internal Improvements 80 

Jail, in lieu of, Prisoner chained toaStump, 32 

" Contract for Building 33 

Judges, Associate 28, 29, 82, 84, 104 

" Circuit 81 to 85, 104 

" Common Pleas 85,105 

" Probate 85, 104 

Jurors in Early Times 72 

Justices Transact County Business 75 

King, George 24, 25, 26, 27, 31, 37, 88, 116 

Ladd and the Murdered Man 11 

Lands, Purchases of 21, 24, 35, 36, 38, 40 

Lawyers 86 to 99 

Legislature, Members of 103 

Lick Creek, Origin of Name 22 

Little Turtle, Speech of 16 

Life in the Woods 00 

Log Rolling 55,60,61,124 

Lost in the Woods 43 

Loper, Daniel 23, 33, 39, 46, 86, 151, 163 

Manners and Customs 63, 86, 123 

Markets 67, 68, 69, 135 

Methodism 66, 67 

Mills 23, 48, 116, 118, 139, 146, 162 

Moving 51, 52, 53, 54, 108, 113 

Moore's Creek, Origin of Name 22 

Murders 12, 112, 162 

Mussulman, Henry 63, 157, 158 

"New Purchase," The 15 

Neal, Richard, an expensive citizen 71 

Nineveh Creek, Origin of Name 22 

Nineveh Township, 19 21, 22,32,36,37,113, 
114, 115. 

Needham Township 71 

Officers, First Appointed 28 

" First Elected 29 

" Names of 100 to 107 

Obstacles in the Settlers' Way 50, 51, 54, 123 

Pioneers. ..48, 60, 64, 76, 82, 85, 86, 123, 125, 126 
Population, 15, 29, 35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 73, 76, 
77, 78, 168. 

Poverty of Early Settlers 51 

Plank Roads 79 

Pleasant Township, 20, 39, 40, 66, 73, 151, 152, 
153, 154, 168. 

Presbyterianism 66, 67, 153 

Prices 68, 69 

Prisoners, Indian, pass through the County... 8 
Physical Condition of the County 50, 51 



Railroads 80 

Records Lost 31 

Religious 65, 66, 78, 115, 165 

Resurectionists 47 

Roads, Bad Condition of 51 

" Cutting Out, 39, 62, 78, 116, 117, 152, 
155, 159. 

Running for the Bottle 63 

Recorders' Names I(i6 

Senators, State 102 

Settlements — On White River, 12; In adjoin- 
ing Counties, 19 ; In Johnson County, 21 ; 
On Blue River, 22; In White River Town- 
ship, 23. 

Settlers, Poverty of. 51 

Sickness 58, 59 

Social Life 62 

Supervisors 71 

Surveyors, Names of 107 

U. S., at Work 19, 20 

Sugar Creek Neighborhood 37 

Sugar Creek, Supposed Origin of Name... 11, 45 

Swamp Lands 51 

Squirrels 55, 129, 156 

Snake Stories 57 

Schools 78 

Smiley, John 23, 29 30, 31 

Slater, John 95 

Secretaries of State 101 

Sheriffs 106 

Trace, Whetzel's 9, 10,39,44, 52 

" Berry's 19 

" Madison's 

Trail, Indian 8, 19, 20, 22, 39, 108 

Timber 24, 38, 49, 50 

Tipton's, John, Journal 20 

Tipton, John, Kills a Deer 20 

Treasurers of State, 101 ; Of County, 106. 

Tolling 60 

Turbulence 65, 111 

Union Township, 20,41,66,73,159,160, 161, 162 

Varner's, John, Death and Burial 47 

Weddings 62, 119 

Wild Turkeys 64, 156, 166 

Wick, Judge 82 

Woodruff, Joab „ 30, 113 

Woodruff Will Case 86 

Wht'tzel, Jacob 9, 10, 11, 44 

Cyrus 17,117 

Whisky 30, 33, 47, 63 

Wild Animals 46, 55, 56, 64, 132 

White River Township, 20, 23, 30, 32, 38, 39, 
67, 122 to 150. 

White Biver 10 

Williamsburg 115 

Young's Creek, Origin of Name 23 



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